new life
by spidergambit
Summary: A Harry Potter leaves the wizarding world after he defeats Voldmort. Believed dead by everyone except the goblins he lives in selfimposed exile until a chance encounter with the xmen. Harry/Gambit slash. You have been warned
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: for the simulator think virtual reality.

**Summer after 5th year**

**Private meeting with Chief Ragnok of Gringotts**

"Chief Ragnok, I have requested this meeting so that I might make some drastic changes to my accounts. Normally I would entrust this task to Griphook but recent events have shown me that while your goblin workers are secure as always the others gossip and should word of my dealings to become known it would defeat my purpose."

"And, just what kind of dealings are you talking about?"

"I wish to make a new identity for after the war. As most people know I am the only one who can kill Voldmort Literally. Which also means he is the only one who can kill me. Once I've done my job I will either be a hero forever in the public eye or the next dark lord locked up for all eternity in Azkaban. You see the problem."

"Yes, I see. So have you figured out any of the particulars?"

"I want my new identity to be under the name Thomas Parsel Harrison, my owl and newt scores should be applied to this name so I can have the option of returning. As for my accounts all investments are to be transferred to the new vault as well as the contents of every vault excluding my trust. I will leave an 'official' will dividing up my trust to the surviving Weasley's and Hermione. I also need some trust funds opened for the individuals listed here." Passes over a short list of names including Snape and Malfoy. "For obvious reasons they cannot be listed in the will. There are certain requirements to be met for the full inheritance but they will receive stipends to help with after the war that the ministry won't be able to touch."

"Thats all very good and easily done, but how are you going to disappear, so that you can become Thomas Harrison?"

"Thats the last thing I need your help with. I need a house built and warded somewhere in Antarctica."

"Why Antarctica?"

"For the simple fact that no one lives there and most research teams don't go there very often."

"Do you have any specifics for this house?"

"Here's the minimum requirements I would like." Hands Ragnok a blueprint. "If the war is still going on when thats done feel free to add on and bill my account. I will need it to run muggle electronics off of magic and a drop box for any packages I may order from the muggle world. Also a way to get fresh food when I need it. Can I count on the goblins of Gringotts to grant my requests with the utmost secrecy?"

"We will get started on these requests right away. Take this portkey. When the war ends just say 'freedom and it will take you here so we can give you an update before sending you to your new life."

"Thank you Chief Ragnock, May the gods grant you and yours gold."

**5 years later**

**final battle at Hogwarts**

"Its over Potter. Today you die."

"Avada Kedavada. You always did talk to much Riddle." Harry knelt down and grabbed his head as if in pain, pockets Voltmeter's wand and points his own at the ground whispers "Reducto Maximus" and portkeys away as an explosion creates a crater 20yards wide right where his body would have been.

**Gringotts Secure private room**

"I take it the war is finally over Mr. Potter."

"Its Mr. Harrison now. As far as the world know Mr. Potter died in a massive explosion after killing Voldmort."

"So I see. Very well here are your new documents, and account updates. We have your house setup with the latest advancements such as satellite, Internet, simulator, we also have purchased a muggle drop box for all of you packages. At the end of the business day it delivers them straight to your study. We also took the liberty of purchasing several snowmobiles converted to run on magic. As for your supplies all you need do is write down what you want, place the list in a cabinet and it will show up minutes later in the room they belong in. The cost is automatically deducted from your account."

"This is great. Thank you and everyone else who worked on this for me."

"Our private line is on your speed dial should you need us before you wish to return" Thomas took the portkey from Griphook. "May the gods grant you and yours gold." states, 'new life' and is whisked away to his new home.

**Serpent House, Antarctica**

Thomas lands in the living room of his new house. Looking at the the rooms Thomas thinks, "Man Gringotts went all out." Heading to the kitchen Thomas makes a list of all the supplies he will need over the next few weeks and puts it in the cabinet like he was told. 'Nice' thought Thomas as he watched the food appear in the cabinets and refrigerator. The living room had a large couch, two recliners, coffee table, and big screen TV. The kitchen had stare of the art equipment, tasteful bowls, plates, glasses, silverware and plenty of counter space. The rest of the house consisted of 5 bedrooms with connected bathrooms, dining room, library, simulator, study, rec room, and a fully stocked potions lab.

The bedrooms all had king sized beds topped with silk sheets, huge pillows and goose down quilts. Dressers with attached mirrors full of clothes appropriate for the climate as well as indoor clothes. The bathrooms had huge tubs, jacuzzi, medicine cabinet stocked with a supply of potions as well as muggle first aid needs. The dinning room had an oak table that could seat twelve. The library held all the books from his vaults, a few tables with chairs and a fireplace. The door to the simulator had a note attached to it. It read 'state what you require and it will provide similar to the room of requirements.' Thomas grinned, "Lets test this. Karate" the room changed into a dojo with automated dummies and virtual sensei. "Cool, Physics." It changed into a lab with textbooks and professor. "Nice, this room is gonna see a lot of use."He stated as he left the room to continue his examination of the house. The study had a huge desk and chair with a state of the art computer system, fax, printer, scanner and the mail drop box was in the corner marked off in red to avoid accidents. The rec room had the latest video game systems with all the games available, a pool table, and dart board as well as a few comfy couches and chairs. The potions lab was fully stocked with ingredients, equipment and recipes. 'Alright, I'm going to have a shower, make dinner and go to bed.' thought Thomas as he set out to do just that.

**2 Months Later**

**Serpent House, Antarctica, study**

"Congratulations, Mr. Harrison. You have successfully achieved your high school diploma with an A average. Also you scored a 1580 on your SAT." He read. "Well I guess I should register for on line college courses." Tom chuckled, "No idea, what I should major in, maybe business to start with after all I got the time and money. Might as well make my new self successful on my own merits." Tom finished filling out his college registration. "1-2 weeks for course book delivery. You are now registered for next months classes. Now that thats done time to see what the simulator has in store for me today."

**16 Months Later**

**Serpent House, Antarctica, Simulator**

Thomas ran through a martial arts regime as he listed all the subjects he had successfully mastered since his self imposed exile. 'karate, sword fighting, warding, potions, mechanics, mediwizardry/ muggle medical school, aeronautics, French, German, Russian, gobbledygook, mermish, elven, hieroglyphics. 'Hmm theres gotta be something I haven't learned yet that would interest me, I just need to think of it. Ah well it'll come to me later.' Thomas finished his workout and went to check his drop box. "Lets see, Book order from Amazon, new games for the systems, my associates degree in business from the on line college, Letter from Gringotts." He set everything else aside on his desk and opened the Gringotts letter.

Mr. Harrison,

As it has been 18 months since you last had contact with the wizarding world we have sent you and update on current events. The wizarding population are rebuilding their world for the better. Kingsley Shaklebot is the new minister. Restrictions on nonhuman s have been overthrown. Hogwarts was reopened in September with Minerva McGonnecal as Headmistress. Mr. Snape was rewarded an order of Merlin first class post humanely for his services in the war. Death eaters were sentenced to Azkaban after trial with versmistan. A memorial was built in Hogsmead to honor as those who died in the war from both sides. As for the name Harry Potter it is as you feared. The public is happy that the war ended and while a few grieved that he was taken the majority are only too happy that he can't go dark. At least you can live your life in peace now. Your will reading went off successfully and each person left with 10mil gallons to their name. As for your other dealings the Malfoys have agreed to the stipulations to their inheritance and look forward to proving they can achieve the full requirements to obtain the House of Black lordship.

Chief Ragnok of Gringotts

"And Trewlany said I didn't have the gift." He sat down and wrote out a reply.

Chief Ragnok of Gringotts

I thank you for the update. I am pleased to hear that the Malfoys have accepted my offering be sure to keep me updated. I am most interested to know what job Draco acquires. Its a pity that Snape was only rewarded after his death but at least his name was cleared. If the wizarding world continues in this direction perhaps I can visit in a few years. I've just obtained my Associates degree in Business and mastered several languages and fighting techniques. Of course that shouldn't be a surprise to you and yours after all the training I received from the Clan these last few years. Here's a list of properties I want to have looked at and possibly built on, after all my new identity needs to live somewhere when he becomes known to the world.

Take Care,

Tom 'Parsel' Harrison

Tom sent off the fax and got dressed to take a ride on one of his snowmobiles. "Lets see how close to the pole we can get today, girl."

**3 Hours Later**

Tom sees some ruins in the distance. "What the hell? Theres not supposed to be ruins out here let alone on Antarctica period.' The doors on the ruins suddenly open and voices are heard. "Shit," Tom quickly cast disillusionment and silencing charms over himself and his ride. "When did people get here?" Thought Tom.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own what I own, they own what they own, and only here shall they meet.

Tom made sure he was disillusioned and silenced before moving slightly closer so he could hear better. From the group closest to the ruins he heard.

"Well X-men, are you here to take your murdering thief back home to fight injustice once again."

"Not so high and mighty anymore are you."

"Come on, our work is done here. Lets leave these goodie goodies to punish their teammate."

Tom turned his attention to the other group as their leader began to speak. "Gambit, you are hereby exiled and removed from the X-men. Everyone else back to the blackbird."

"Chere' it wasn't like that, Gambit didn't know, I.."

"Don't ya Chere' me, ya murderer. You killed all those people. I thought you cared, but your just a lying piece of scum. I shoulda known betta, after all ya lied bout everythin else in your past. Your wife, the banishment, and now this. Its over your nothin to me anymore. You deserve to die out here where you can't hurt anyone else." The female flew into the blackbird just before the door closed behind her and took off.

"Wait, I didn't know. What happened to the past is the past. Fine Gambit don't need ya, Gambit don't need anybody, never did." Gambit huddled inside his trench coat trying to stay warm in the subzero temperatures.

Tom watched as the Jet took off leaving the condemned behind. "How could they just leave him like that, without letting him tell his side of the story. He won't even last the night out here dressed like that, with no food or heat source. Well fuck, his lips are already turning blue. Looks like I'm gonna be having some company."

Tom sent a silent stunner at Gambit's back after casting a few heating charms on him. Tom strapped him in infront of himself on the snowmobile and headed home. After parking Tom carried his passenger to the spare room across from his and stripped him of his wet clothes and pulled the covers over his thin figure. He began to run a diagnostic charm over his patient. "Hmm, mild hypothermia, slight malnutrition, and whats this a power dampener coupled with a tracking device. Wonder if he knows about that. I'll remove it anyway if he wants it back he can ask later." Tom proceeded to treat Gambit with several potions and placed the dampener in a special box that would nullify it and displace the tracker over a 1k mile radius. He then set a ward to alert him of any changes to his patient and left to make dinner.

**Gambits room**

**2 hours later**

Gambit began to stir. "Mmm, smells like Logan be making stew tonight. Scott must have come to his senses and come back for me." He opens his eyes and looks around. "This ain't Gambit's room at the mansion. Where the hell am I?"

"You would be in my home." Said a voice from the doorway. As the owner of the voice came closer Gambit saw a 6ft tall man with shoulder length black hair tied with a green ribbon. He had emerald green eyes that looked too old to belong with the youthful elfin features of the mans face. He had on a green silk button down shirt opened over a white tank and tight black denim jeans and hiking boots. In his hands he carried two trays of food.

"My names Tom. I figured you'd be waking up about now and could use something hearty to eat." Said Tom as he passed over a tray. Tom sat down in a chair across from the bed and got his first good look at his guest while he ate. His guest had reddish brown short cropped hair, a rugged face with red on black eyes that eyed the stew with suspicion as he sat up in the bed inadvertently giving Tom a good look at his tanned lean chest. Tom silently congratulated his ability not to let his gaze wonder and said. "You know, if I wanted to kill you I could have just left you in the snow, like those others that were out there.

Gambit clenched his jaw at the mention of the others and said, "My friends will make them come back for me."

Tom nodded his head in agreement. "True your friends could come for you, but had I not happened along you would've been long past dead hours ago. As it was you were starting to turn blue when I picked you up. Now then, eat your stew so you can regain your strength that the cold sapped from you earlier. After you finish eating you can bring the tray downstairs. Bathroom is through there and feel free to pick out anything you would like to wear from the dresser. The clothes you had on before need mending before they can be wearable again. I shall see you downstairs." Tom left the room heading to his surveillance room to check if anyone had come looking for his guest.

Meanwhile back in Gambit's room after Tom left

Gambit finally took a bite of the stew and nearly let out a moan at the heavenly taste. 'OK think Gambit, you've been left behind by your teammates without any supplies in Antarctica because of farce of a trial about your past that they promised they wouldn't pry into when you joined them. Then left without letting you explain anything. Stupid, biased, ignorant... No no not going into those thoughts focus. Got taken in by a guy named Tom who just happened along sometime while I was in the snow. So I need to find out where exactly I am now and figure out what my host wants for payment for helping me.'

Gambit set aside his tray and made his way to the bathroom. 'Mon Dieu. A tub and jacuzzi. Even the mansion never had this.' Gambit took a leisurely hot bath before getting dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, blue t-shirt, and his boots. Once done he picked up his tray and headed for the stairs. 'There's no way I'm still in Antarctica with a place like this.' he thought.

"Ah, there you are. I'll take those." Tom said as he took the tray and set it in the sink. "I suppose we both have questions we would like answered. Come and have a seat and we can get started with you telling me your name." Tom sprawled across a deep blue love seat in the living room. "Go on take a seat somewhere. Might as well get comfortable while we talk, I have a feeling this might take awhile."

Gambit took a seat in the farthest chair away from Tom just incase he needed to make a break for it. "The name be Gambit."

"I gathered your codename earlier. Now whats your real name? I could easily look up all the information on you and your former teammates I want but I would rather you tell me yourself. Now lets start again. My name is Thomas Parsel Harrison. Tom for short. Your turn."

Gambit eyed his host for a moment longer before saying. "Remy Etienne Lebeau."

"See that wasn't so bad. Now then mind telling me why your teammates would leave you in a frozen wasteland without supplies?" Remy tensed where he sat. "I guess we'll leave that one for later. You might as well ask your questions till your ready to answer mine. We have all the time in the world."

"Where are we? Why did you take me in? What do you..?"

"Easy now. We are in my home as I stated earlier but I take it you mean geographically. We are still in Antarctica, I'll show you where exactly in my map later. As for why I took you in I had to. It was either take you in or leave you to die knowing I could have saved a life. Which would you choose? I can see I've sparked more questions for you, so I shall attempt to explain. This house was built by friends of mine about 5 years ago. I've lived here for the past 18months in self imposed exile."

"Why would you exile yourself? Let alone exile yourself out here in the middle of nowhere. Theres nothing out here."

"Exactly. Nothing and no one. The world I left behind believes me to be dead. Can't very well be seen the week after I died just walking down the street now can I? Don't misunderstand me, I didn't do anything wrong. I ended the war back home just as I was supposed to only now that they no longer need me to fight for them they see me as a threat. I'm now too powerful in their eyes to be left alive so I faked my death with them none the wiser and now I live here until I choose to return as I am now. So whats your reason for being out here?"

"I was brought here by Magneto and his brotherhood. They said I was to stand trial for the crimes in my past. The X-men showed up as the trial was ending and heard them condemn me as guilty to murder of countless lives. I never got to defend myself, they just listed my crimes and pronounced me guilty and left me to my teammates for punishment. Scott kicked me off the team and told me to never come back and they just left without letting me explain. They took the word of their enemy over mine."

"I see," Tom said as he made himself a drink. "Want one?" Gambit just nodded. Tom handed a shot of whiskey to Gambit set the bottle on the coffee table between them and sat back down. "Now then, what exactly did they find you guilty of? Go ahead explain yourself your not going to get a more unbiased opinion than right now"

Gambit drank down his shot of whiskey and poured himself another he started telling Tom about working for Sinister and his role in the Morlock Massacre. "I was only 15 when I met up with Sinister he had saved my life when I lost control of my powers and blew up the theater I was in before I passed out. He said that he would give me a power suppressor so I could learn control because my body couldn't handle that kind of power just yet. In return I was to work for him doing odd jobs. He would use my skills as a thief to steal information for him or to sabotage a rivals base. After a few years I was told that I only had this last job then my debt was over. I was to use my knowledge of the sewers to lead his team of mutants to a specific crosspoint. I didn't question why they wanted to go via the sewers and not just enter at the crosspoint but I was almost free and it didn't really matter to me. All I had to do was lead them in then I was free to go."

Gambit drank down his second shot and poured himself another. "I took them there and was turning back the way I came my job done when I heard the screams and cold laughter of the maurders. I headed back to see what was going on. They were killing everybody in sight. I didn't even know that the morlocks were down there. I picked up the nearest kid and ran for it. One of the team saw me and tried to stop me. I shoved the kid into a smaller tunnel so she could make a run for it. The x-men showed up to help the morlocks but they didn't see me since I was too far away. Sabortooth slashed open my side and left me for dead before going back to the main battle. I had enough sense to bind my wounds before I passed out. Next time I woke Sinister was standing over me in the tunnels. He said that my debt was paid in full and I was free to go or I could have him heal my wounds and stay in his service. I declined, went to a nearby shelter and got myself patched up and tried my best to forget what happened."

Gambit drank down his drink again hoping to drown the memories. He looked down at the bottle debating with himself whether another drink would help him forget before deciding against it. "I met up with the X-men bout a year later when I was doing a job. I met this little girl bout 8 yrs old standing in front of the painting I was supposed to steal. I took the painting and when the alarms went off I took the kid with me since she was scared of the dogs. When I got back to my place I finished the transaction and questioned her. She said she wasn't really 8yrs old but had been turned into an 8yr old when the king pin wanted to control her because she had control over the weather. I helped her join back up with the x-men and they took me in as well. They told me the past was the past and everybody there started with a clean slate. I guess that only works when they don't find out." Gambit looked over at Tom waiting to see his reaction.

Tom sat there taking it all in. He knew that Gambit wasn't lying about anything he said. "Well, as far as I can see you're not guilty. And even if you had known what was to happen you tried to save them and you feel remorse that it ever happened. Besides it was in the past not much anyone can do about it now."

"How can you understand when the others I've lived with wouldn't even let me explain?"

"Let me tell you abit more about where I come from." Tom went on to explain the wizarding world, the wars with Voldmort, his school years, Snape's spying and ending with. "And now that I've killed Voldmort for good tis time, I faked my death came here and as of the latest update, the wizarding world is recovering. Thankful that I ended the war and died before I could turn dark. You can see now just why I can understand what you went through. You can also see why we're in this fully functioning undetected house out here in Antarctica not bundled up in about 10 layers of clothes and freezing our asses off like those people at the research stations are should be proof enough that magic exists."

Tom finished off his drink while watching Remy take in all he had been told. "Your a wizard."

Tom nodded. "And you're a mutant. Two people with abilities that other people don't have."

"You don't mess with the voodoo right."

Tom raised an eyebrow at that. "Voodoo? You mean black magic?' Remy nodded. "No I don't dabble in that stuff. The one I defeated did though. I had to learn how to recognize it when I encountered it though. I could probably cast it if I wanted to but it never appealed to me since I saw all the devastation it caused when handled improperly. I take it you've seen that kind of magic used before."

"Gambit seen it used before. Gambit stay away from it."

"Well then its a good thing I don't use it then. Seeing as we're both exiled in this frozen wasteland. The only difference is I chose to be here willingly and you didn't and might or might not have people out looking for you. As it is now quite late I suggest we both get some sleep and I can show you around in the morning. I wouldn't advise exploring on your own I don't look forward to getting you out of the dungeons in the middle of the night."

"Dungeons?"

Tom just nodded. "Standard part of all magical houses or so I'm told. I get up at around 8. Be ready to go downstairs by 9 have a goodnight." Tom said as he left Remy outside his room and went to his own room. Tom stripped down to his black silk boxers, climbed into bed and went to sleep. Gambit just stood outside Tom's now closed door for a few minutes before entering the room he had used earlier. 'This has been one long day' he thought as he stripped down to his borrowed blue silk boxers and climbed into the huge bed and falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillows.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own what I own and nothing more.

_**parseltounge**_

**3:55 am**

**Serpent House, Antarctica**

"Warning: Humanoid Hostiles with established perimeter! Warning Humanoid Hostile..."

Tom jerked himself awake as the alarms blared throughout the house. Jumping out of bed he threw off his covers and tore down the hall towards the surveillance room barely avoiding a collision with a bedraggled Remy on the way. Remy caught up to Tom as he stopped at a rearing cobra statue. Remy was about to ask a question when he heard Tom let out a slight hiss and the statue slithered aside allowing Tom to pass through. He quickly followed before the statue moved back to its previous spot, once inside he saw Tom, who continued to hiss, standing infront of a huge bank of computers and about 20 screens showing various amounts of data and pictures.

"_**Bring hostiles up on monitors, identify and map progress. Stand by on defensive measures. And shut off that damn alarm already." **_Tom hissed in paresltounge at the computers. Not taking his eyes off the monitors Tom said over his shoulder, "You might as well have a seat. Chances are this has to do with you."

Remy sat in a rolling chair not far from where Tom was standing, while trying to get the sound of Tom hissing out of his head and asked, "How would this have to do with me?"

"You mentioned that your friends would make the others come back for you earlier, so I sent out a few perimeter probes around the area that I found you in. Apparently someone came looking. Question is who, and why are they armed."

"Armed?" questioned Remy as he tried to pay attention to the monitors instead of the barely clad body next to him.

Tom nodded, "Yes, according to the probes several are equipped with large assault weapons, and numerous knives. Now the knives could be explained away, as well as one or two guns but not the twenty or so I've managed to identify." Tom had a probe move closer to get a clear picture of the intruders. "Recognize anyone Remy?"

Remy brought his focus back to the monitors and drew in a sharp breath and cursed in French.

"I'll take that as a yes." Tom stated as he scrolled down the information screen that was currently listing the groups supplies. "Mind telling me who they, or am I wrong in assuming these are not your friends?"

"Non, these not be Remy's friends. Those be the maurders I told you bout earlier. The blond be Sabortooth, next to him is Harpoon, and Switchblade, and bringing up the rear be Sinister."

Tom hissed to the computers again, _**"Activate audio, filter out weather."**_

Remy ran a hand through his hair as he heard the hissing again and tried to keep his body from responding to the sensuous sounds Tom was making. A harsh voice from the screens brought his straying thoughts back to the present.

"I tell you boss, they left him here like you wanted." The blond feral growled.

Then where is he Creed? This is the only shelter for over two hundred miles in any direction. He should still be here." Sinister hissed.

"Maybe he made it to a research station?"

"No, they would have called it in and I would have been informed. Now find him."

"Chances are he's dead Boss."

"I would know if he were dead. The tracker I put inside his suppressor chip would have failed otherwise. Hes here somewhere, theres just too much interference for me to pinpoint exactly where. Even if he was dead his body would still be able to further my research." Sinister paced between his men, "This will be our base of operations for now, we'll search in a 200mile radius, use your walking sticks to check under the snow. Well what are you waiting for? Get Going!"

"Yes, Boss." was yelped from the three men as they made haste to begin the search. No one wanted to be around an angry Sinister.

Seeing that that was all the information available for now Tom muted the screen. "Well Remy, what do we do now?"

Remy looked over at Tom as said, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you want to go with them or stay here? And if you stay here what should we do about the tracking device he has on you?" Tom stated.

"I'll take staying here over going with them any day. As for the tracker I didn't even know he had one on me. Makes sense though he never did like not knowing things. But if its inside my suppressor I don't know what you can do about it. I need that to keep control of my powers."

"Why?"

"I've got to much power for my body to handle without that chip. Thats how I blew up that building when I was younger. I told you that earlier."

"I know that. But no one has more power than their body can handle. If you couldn't handle it then you wouldn't have it in the first place. Have you been having any problems with you powers since staying here?" Tom questioned.

"No, but.."

"Charge the chair and drain it again after." Remy stared for a minute but did as he was told. "See, your powers are fine. Now I can take care of that tracker."

"But that doesn't count, I still have the chip in me." Remy said in frustration. Hearing a chuckle he looked at where Tom was bending over a chest at the back of the room. Tearing his gaze from the sight of Toms ass he asked in barely a whisper. "Whats amusing?"

Tom stood back up and turned around holding an iron box in front of him. "Remy you haven't had that chip in you since an hour after I brought you here. I took it out when I was examining you. Its been in this box the entire time."

Remy looked at the box in disbelief, "You mean, I just used my powers without them getting out of control just now without the chip?" Tom nodded with a slight smile. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"You needed time for your powers to adjust to your body after being suppressed for so long. It was better to let you forget about it until then. Had I told you, you probably would have become anxious and feared what could happen, this way your powers are stabilized and you didn't have to deal with extra stress." Tom explained while he set the box in a corner of the room and setup multiple shield charms around it. "Now stay back. Fiendfyre." A huge flame shot out of Tom's outstretched hand towards the box and became contained inside the shields. About fifteen minutes later the flames finally died down and in the area not even dust remained. "All done. Now for the intruders. _**Follow and record targets movements and conversations. Should they venture within House boundaries reactivate alarm and setup defensive measures."**_

Remy looked from where the box had been to Tom as he once again sent pleasant shivers down his spine straight to his groin with his sibilant hissing. "Hmm 5:49. Well I'm not gonna get anymore sleep tonight. You up for breakfast, Remy?" asked Tom as he turned to look at Remy only now realizing that both of them were dressed in only their boxers.

Remy eyed to toned body infront of him, the muscular arms, six-pack abs, slight dusting of hairs from his bellybutton leading farther down till they disappeared under the black silk boxers. Remy snapped out of his thoughts and brought his eyes back to Toms face, he bit back a moan and answered in a slightly strained voice, "Yeah, Breakfast, sounds good, I'll just go get dressed first." Remy quickly exited the room as he felt a blush creeping up his neck.

Tom watched the departing backside at Remy practically fled the room. 'I hope hes not scared of me now that hes seen part of what I can do with my powers.' Tom thought as he made his way to his own room and pulled on his black silk pajama bottoms and went downstairs to start cooking.

**Gambit's Room**

'Mon Dieu. I haven't been this turned on in years. Get a hold of yourself Remy, Focus. The last thing you need is to start lusting after your rescuer when Sinister is out there looking for you. Besides he probably doesn't even like guys. But gods what a body. NO, no focus, you're getting dressed then heading downstairs to have breakfast.' Remy firmly reined in his thoughts and got dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans before heading towards the smell of cooking bacon coming from the kitchen.

"Good you're here already. How do you like your eggs?" asked Tom as he put a plate of bacon on the table next to plates of toast and blueberry pancakes. Remy sat down at the table quickly as his thoughts headed south again upon seeing Tom shirtless. "Over easy be fine if thats alright." Remy gave up on reining in his thoughts as he watched Toms firm backside while he cooked. He was fairly lost in a fantasy that involved him bending Tom over the counter top and thrusting into that tight heat when he heard Tom say, "Here you go Remy. Help yourself." As he sat down across from Remy and piled his plate with a bit of everything. Remy kept his gaze on his plate as they both at their fill.

"Are you alright Remy?" Tom asked as he finished eating.

"Yeah, Remy be fine." He mumbled not looking up from his plate.

"Are you sure?," Tom seemed slightly hesitant before continuing. "I didn't scare you earlier, did I?"

Remy looked up at the hesitant tone, "Non, you didn't scare me. Honest, I was just lost in thought." Remy swallowed before saying, "About earlier, what language did you use to make the statue move?"

"The statue", Tom looked puzzled for a second before his eyes widened slightly, "Oh, I forgot about that. I speak parseltounge. Its the language of the snakes. I forgot about the security measures I used for that room. It only accepts that language when alarms are tripped, so if anybody were to find this place they wouldn't be able to access my files without me. And I could always tell it something different should I be captured."

"Can't nobody else speak that language?" Remy asked.

"Not anymore. I'm the only person with the ability left. Its not a language you can learn to speak. Some people are able to understand a few words such as their name if they've heard it said enough times and it is possible to learn the written language but thats about it." Tom explained.

"Any chance of you teaching Remy how to read this language." he asked hopefully.

Tom shrugged, "Sure, why not. Maybe you'll even learn to recognize your name when I say it. Now then _**Remy**_ why don't we take that tour I mentioned yesterday?" as he stood up to lead the way. Remy hid a shiver and followed after his guide.

"Now, you have free access to the living room, kitchen, rec room, and the left side of the library and your room. Everywhere else you will be unable to enter without me accompanying you. Any questions?"

"What have you been doing while you've been out here?"

"I've been studying. I recently received my associates degree in business and learned most of the known languages of the world. As well as trying to keep my body in battle ready form."

Remy swallowed, "Sounds like a nice life."

"Its not for everyone, but I'm enjoying it. Why don't you go look around. I'll check up on you in a few hours, I have some things to take care of." Tom said as he entered his office.

"Sure, I'll go do that." Remy went off to browse the library hoping to find something that could occupy his mind while Tom worked.

**Tom's Office**

Mr. Harrison,

We have successfully purchased the lands you requested in Egypt, Brazil, and New York and have started construction on the buildings to your specifications. We will update as needed.

Griphook

Manager of Accounts

Gringotts

Tom read over the note from Gringotts and thought, 'Nice. It should only take them about a month to finish building, warding and furnishing those places. I should wait to purchase any more properties for now.'

Tom called up the security monitors on Sinister's group. 'Idiots, they must be freezing their asses off and have only gone about 3 miles from the base. At least they left markers so they don't redo a section. At this rate it'll take at least three months to finish the desired area.' Tom left his room still thinking and found Remy lounging on the couch flipping through the channels on the TV. Tom took the time to admire the fine figure laid out before him. The shirt was slightly pulled up showing off a glimpse of tanned abs and the jeans hugged the long legs. 'Easy Tom, you don't want to spook him. Or make him get the wrong idea and think you want to use him as payment for staying here.'

"I take it theres nothing good showing." Remy jumped up startled. "Easy, its just me."

Remy calmed his racing heart. "Non, nothing goods on. You done with your work?"

"Yep, not much needed doing today. Got a question for you though. Just how stubborn is this Sinister guy when he wants something?"

"He can be very determined. He's wasted years searching for artifacts before."

"Uh huh, well at the rate he's going it'll take at least 3 months barring delays and the weather of course."

"Three months?"

"At the very least."

"Won't we need to go out for supplies or something?" asked Remy slightly concerned.

"Nope. Come here since you'll be living here for the foreseeable future you might as well see how this works." He hands Remy a pad of paper and a pencil. "Now is there anything you can think of that would make your stay more enjoyable. Anything at all, a razor, books boardgames, a favorite food, whatever it is just write it down and pass the paper and pencil back."

Remy looked at the paper and thought for a minute before writing down playing cards, poker chips, and strawberries. Tom looked over the short list and started looking through the cabinets and adding something every now and again while saying. "That was a good start, I'm sure you'll think of other things later. Now heres the list," Tom walked over to a slot in the wall with the list. "I put it in this slot and presto our supplies have arrived. The food automatically gets put away. Most everything else has a designated place where it goes as well. Thats why only your poker chips and cards are on the table. I already have a set or two in the rec room so it didn't have room for them in there. Now just so you know that list can get practically anything thats available at a grocery or drug store and deducts the amount from my bank accounts. I'm only mentioning the money so you don't go hog wild and send out for cases of caviar and expensive champagne. I don't think you would do that but better safe than sorry."

"Non, Remy be good. Never liked fancy food anyway." Remy said

Tom chuckled, "We'll see, now if there are any books, clothes, or other items that need specifications added to them such as size, color, or style that you would like that I don't already have just ask me and we'll use my computer to get it for you."

"Remy, will pay you back for all your help." Remy avoided looking in Tom's eyes.

"Don't worry about it I doubt you'll even make a dent in my accounts even if I let you buy a sports car everyday for a month. Now theres a thought." Tom trailed off in a mumble.

"What?" Tom shook his head, "Its nothing really, Sometime next month I will have three new houses built and furnished in Egypt, Brazil, and New York. The last things that are brought in are the vehicles because the goblins need to bring in humans to drive them. I was thinking if you really wanted to pay me back for anything you might spend, I could have the goblins stop after the first vehicle is delivered and have you help me pick out the others. What do you say?"

"Wait, does that mean we don't have to stay here? We could leave here at any time?" Remy asked deep in thought.

Tom sighed, "Yes and no." Remy looked up puzzled. " Yes I could take you anywhere at anytime you wanted." Remy tried not to focus on the slight innuendo. "But then we have to deal with customs, and having proper ids ready for inspection. Now when my homes are done I can get Gringotts to make a portkey for us making them do all the paperwork and any documents ready for us upon arrival. Since we would be landing at a private residence we wouldn't need to answer any questions if someone saw us before we were ready. So what do you think? Do you want to go with me? I will need to send in the paperwork by tomorrow to get everything squared away for the next month if your going. I'll be in the kitchen making lunch while you decide."

Remy thought about everything Tom had just said. 'I could be home in a month or two. All I'd need to do is help him pick out a few cars as he tours his properties. I don't need to join back up with the x-men again but I could let my friends know I'm alright.' Remy walked into the kitchen saying, "What kind of information you be needing to get those ids?"

Tom looked up from making sandwiches, "You going then."

"Oui."

"Excellent." Tom tapped a button the table and a hologram of a short green creature with sharp teeth wearing a gold uniform with a stylized G on the front appeared. "Hello there, Griphook. Its good to see you."

Griphook grinned showing off more teeth. "Its good to see you as well Thomas. Now what can Gringotts do for you today?"

"I need portkeys made to my new properties so I can visit them when they are finished."

"Are you finally coming back?" Griphook asked hopefully.

"Perhaps. Right now I only intend to purchase the vehicles for each place. So after the first one is bought at each location stop. I also need a standard ID pack for a guest who will be accompanying me."

"A guest. In Antarctica, theres a tale in that one. Perhaps you'll share it with me one day?"

Tom smirked, "Perhaps."

"Right, back to business. Magical or muggle."

"Mutant actually."

"Only you, I'll look it up and send the forms over to be filled out by your guest later. But I'll just take their picture now, if thats alright."

"Of course." Tom waved Remy over, "**_Remy_**, this is Griphook, he'll be taking your picture for the ID." Remy swallowed and looked up at the hologram and tried to keep his face expressionless when he saw the goblin grinning at him.

Griphook, made a mental note at the usage of parseltounge and grinned upon seeing the guest with his own eyes. He took the picture and said. "I'll have the forms sent in about an hour. Was there anything else you needed?"

"No, thats all. Thank you for your time Griphook."

"Its been a pleasure as always, Thomas." said Griphook as he ended the connection.

"Well, what did you think of seeing your first goblin." Said Tom as he put an arm around Remy's shoulder to steer him to seat.

Remy felt a spark travel down his arm when Tom's fingers brushed over his arm. "That was your banker?"

"One of them, yes."

"And I thought Wolvie looked scary in a battle rage. Goblins just topped my list of never piss off."

Tom chuckled, "Good idea. They're scary enough when they're happy like Griphook was." Seeing Remy's jaw drop at that remark. Changing the subject Tom asked, "Would you like to see the simulator? Its where I do most of my workouts. Your welcome join me if you want."

"Sure, Remy can't let his skills get rusty just cause hes out here." he said as he followed Tom through the house. Tom explained how to work the room before requesting his usual workout scenario. "You can have a seat in the corner to watch until you feel comfortable enough to join in. Maybe later we can spar against each other."

Tom turned away from Remy and began the simulation. Remy watched in amazement as Tom ducked, rolled, punched, jumped, kicked, and generally moved around the room kicking some serious ass. He fought against enemies of all sizes, and different styles of attack. Not once did they land a hit on Tom. When he was finished Tom looked like he had just spent the afternoon reading a book and not spent the last twenty minutes in combat. His hair wasn't even out of place. "Care to try?"

"Sure, Remy take a shot, looks like you could teach me a few things."

"You never know, I might just do that." Tom smiled.

For the next forty minutes the sounds in the room were grunts and pants as the two men grappled around the room never holding still for longer than a second. Finally seeing an opening, Tom ducked under Remy's punch and swiped his leg under Remy's feet before he could correct his balance Tom grabbed his arm and pulled him the rest of the way down. Remy fell onto his back and tried to roll away only to have his arm be pinned behind his back and the full weight of Tom pressing himself against his back. Tom had locked his legs around Remy's preventing his escape and pinned the other arm above his head. He leaned down to Remy's ear pressing himself firmly against the still panting body beneath himself. Stifling a groan he asked, "Do you yield?"

Remy was having trouble keeping still, his thoughts were on the incredible feeling of that body pressing into him and how much he wished this wasn't only happening as part of an exercise when he heard Tom speak. Stopping himself from issuing a moan Remy said in a slightly breathless voice, "Oui, Remy yield."

Tom lingered a moment longer before he disentangled himself. Standing up he composed himself and said, "That was good, we should do it again sometime." Remy nodded his head trying to keep his hands from reaching out to touch the body just out of reach as they walked out the room back to Tom's office. Tom looked at his desk for anything that take his mind off of the feel of Remy's body under him. "Oh, good the forms have arrived. We should start filling those out."

**2 hours later**

"Thats the last of them." Tom said as he stood up stretching. "I'm gonna make some pasta for dinner. How bout you pick out a movie for us to watch while we eat."

Remy looked away from Tom as he stretched and said, "Sure, sounds like a good idea." Remy looked at the rack of DVDs most of which still had the plastic covering on them. Picking one out at random Remy put it in the player and waited for Tom to finish up in the kitchen. Tom looked at the food on the table on decided that it would be easier just to have it all in the living room to start with he levitated everything to the coffee table before making the table higher so they wouldn't have to bend over while eating he then made the TV higher so the screen wasn't blocked either. "What would you like to drink, **_Remy_**?" he asked.

Remy looked from the food to Tom and back again. "Whatever your having will be fine, Mon mi."

Tom set out a red wine and poured two glasses. "The wine will stay chilled the entire time and the food won't get cold either. Now what show did you pick?"

Remy started making a plate and said, "Tis called, Highlander. Never seen it before but it sounded good."

"Lets watch and find out." The two ate in silence while they watched the show trying to ignore they shivers that went down their spines as fingers accidentally brushed or when a leg bumped into another. When the food and movie were both finished Tom banished the dishes and leftovers to the kitchen as they leaned back into the couch with full bellies and mulled thoughts.

"Well that was a good show, **_Remy_**. What did you think?" Tom asked as he let his eyes wander the figure next to him. He subconsciously licked his lips.

Remy saw Tom lick his lips and tried to remember the question. "Yeah, good show." He tried to think of something else to say. "That was a good meal you made Tom. I might just change my mind bout liking fancy foods if you continue cooking like that." Remy's breath caught as he saw Tom smile at the compliment. His whole face seemed to light up with the smile and his eyes became less clouded and seemed to sparkle with an inner light.

"I might just do that. But now I believe its time for bed."

"But its not that late yet is it?" Remy asked not wanting to end the evening just yet.

"No, its only about 8pm but you were up early."

"No earlier than you." Remy retorted.

"True, but I'm going to bed just as soon as I do my exercises and shower."

"Right, I'll go to bed in a little bit."

"Alright I'll see you in the morning." Tom went to the simulation room and had it program in Remy as an opponent from the spar earlier. 30 minutes later a slightly out of breath, sweat slicked Tom headed to his room in only his boxers having removed his pants earlier during the workout. Remy was lying on his bed staring into space thinking about the day when he saw Tom pass by his open door. 'Damn he looks good.' Hearing water running across the hall visions of Tom filled his thoughts. 'Great now I need a shower.' He got out of the bed closed his door and entered the shower. Remy pictured Tom's water slicked body as he began to stroke himself. How his body felt pressed up against his own and the hiss of his name on Tom's lips as he let him take him from behind. Remy let out a long moan as he reached completion. Remy's last thought before he went to bed was, 'I'm in so much trouble.'


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: whats mine is mine and whats not is not.

_**Parseltounge**_

_partial parseltounge_

**The Next Day**

Tom woke with a groan as his dream of being pleasured by his red eyed guest, was rudely interrupted by his alarm clock. He glared at the offending device before incinerating it. "Why couldn't the alarm have gone off 5 minutes later, then I wouldn't be having this problem." Tom grumbled as he made his way to the shower with his straining erection. He tried to recapture the dream, 'red eyes burning with lust, toned naked body kneeling infront of him, those perfect lips sucking on him.' Tom let out a guttural groan as he released his seed in the shower. He finished washing up and got dressed for the day. He wore dark blue denim jeans and a white muscle shirt, his hair was once again tied back with a green ribbon. Upon seeing Remy in the kitchen he thought, 'this is gonna be a hard day.'

Remy had woken from his own pleasure filled dreams to find his sheets sticky. 'thats gonna be hard to explain' he thought as he went to take a shower. 'wonder what I should do today. Maybe Tom will start teachin me how to write that language. That should occupy my time while he works.' thought Remy as he got dressed in a dark red muscle shirt and snug blue jeans. 'need to see bout using the computer to order my own clothes, can't just keep using his, need to have stuff for when Remy on his own again.'

Remy made his way down to the kitchen and started making coffee while trying to decide if he should attempt to cook his own breakfast or not. "Morning **_Remy_**, sleep well?" Tom asked as he made his way towards Remy and the coffeepot.

Remy swallowed thickly, "Oui, Remy slept very well."

"Good to hear it." Tom leaned into Remy slightly as he reached above his head for a coffee mug. Remy stifled a moan as he felt Toms body against his again. Tom placed the mug on the counter for himself, not seeing cup out for Remy and enjoying the feel of the hot body under him again. He leaned in again and took down a second mug. Tom backed off now that he had no excuse to stand so close. He poured himself a cup of coffee and moved away saying, "Thanks for making the coffee, **_Remy. _**What would you like to eat."

Remy barely stopped himself for blurting out 'you' as he turned around to face Tom. He cleared his throat and replied, "Remy, be fine, just gonna make some toast. Not really that hungry yet." 'Not for food anyway' he thought.

"If your sure, then I'll leave you to it. I'll be in my office if you need anything. I've left out an alphabet and some sample sentences in parseltounge in the library should you want to see what you'll be attempting to learn." Tom made his way to his office hoping to drown his hormones in paperwork before he did something he might regret. Tom shook his head to rid his head of thoughts of going back to the kitchen and pining Remy against the counter and taking him right there. 'paperwork remember.' Tom sighed as he pulled a portfolio to himself and set to work.

**Meanwhile**

Remy waited until Tom had left the kitchen before collapsing into the nearest chair, Remy slowly drank his coffee before he made his way to the library to see the snake language that sounded so succulent. A large dry erase board, covered in what looked like squiggles and dots interrupted every so often by singular letters, stood in the middle of the room near a desk that held a stack of clean papers, pencils and a note.

It read: **_Congratulations Remy, you have successfully translated this note. I hope this was fun for you. Happy writing. Tom_**

Remy compared the squiggles with the ones on the board and after double checking each squiggle twice he managed to reproduce the note in English. Reading the note in its entirety when he finished Remy chuckled before trying to write the note in parseltounge himself. After much trial and error and numerous sheets of paper Remy managed to make a reasonable copy of the note. Taking the note with him Remy went to find Tom to have him check his work over.

Tom was leaning back in his chair absentmindedly sucking on a peppermint stick while reading over the latest reports on the former Malfoy family. He looked up when he heard Remy knock on the door frame. Setting down the report and taking the candy out of his mouth he asked, "Yes, _**Remy**_. What can I do for you?" before sucking the candy back into his mouth.

Remy tried not to think about how much he wished he was that piece of candy right now. Remy cleared his throat and said, "I translated the note you made. I made a copy of it in parseltounge, could you check it for me, to see if I got it right."

Tom smiled around his candy. Before he could ask for the paper his phone rang. Sighing inwardly Tom answered it while motioning Remy towards a chair. "Hello, yes I have the folder right here, no I haven't finished it yet. Why don't you just give me your opinion on them and what I should do."

Remy became nervous as he waited for an answer thoughts ran through his mind. 'This is stupid, he's busy. You could have waited till he was done with his work.' "Remy just come back later. When you're.." Remy started saying as he got up to leave only to be interrupted.

Tom heard Remy saying he'd come back later, he took the phone away from his mouth before saying, "Sit _**Remy**_. Now pass over the note and I can check it over."

Remy complied those weren't suggestions after all. Tom took the note and grabbed a red pen from his desk before speaking into the phone again, while making marks on the paper. "Yes, I understand their situation, alright how much longer before he becomes a full time employee? Alright increase their spending limit. My votes will be sent later today. Yes, yes, I'll take care of the formalities later. Anything else? Alright I'll talk to you later, Griphook. Bye."

Tom hung up the phone finished marking the note and handed it back to Remy. Rubbing his temples, Tom stated, "Malfoys, why did I decide to be nice to them again?" Tom cracked an eye open at Remy, "You did very well. You just need to make sure you don't connect the squiggle and dots on a few of them. Other than that it was very legible. Would you like me to read it, so you can try to distinguish one word from another when its spoken."

"Sure, but don't you have more work to do?" Remy couldn't decide which answer he was hoping on more. Tom could either lie and say no thus spending time with him. Or he could be honest and he would have to leave till Tom was finished working.

Tom laughed at the question, "Thats a good question, but I'm afraid its not getting answered. Now heres a new sheet of paper, try to mark how many words I say and we'll see how close you get. Ready?" receiving a nod Tom read the note he had written earlier. When he was finished he had Remy hand the tally over. "Not bad. Only off by 3. The longer words probably tripped you up. You should have the language down in no time." Tom gave Remy a grin, "Would you like to use the computer since you're here, while I finish up these reports?" he then started sucking on his candy again.

"Oui. Remy was thinking bout that earlier." Remy answered getting up from his chair and moving towards the desk.

Tom held back a smile as he said, "Bring your chair around, unless you want to sit on my lap. Either ways fine with me." He was rewarded with a blush before Remy went back to get his chair.

'What are you doing, he offered. Non, he was only joking, wasn't he?' Remy shook off his thoughts and decided to play it safe, on the off chance he was offering best not to completely discourage him. "Maybe next time Mon Ami. Don't want to distract you from your work, too much."

Tom quirked an eyebrow and smirked slightly, "Maybe I should finish my work then. So you can't distract me, anymore." Tom pulled the file back over and separate sheet of paper and began writing what his responses concerning his voting in the wizarding world. He formally accepted Narcissa and Draco back into the Black family and issued the next requirements that needed to be met before they received Head of House status. He sent the completed documents to the bank, glanced through the mail and seeing nothing of any importance declared himself finished. He watched Remy as he browsed though the websites in search of something.

Remy had successfully found a new duster to replace the one that had been ruined in the snow. Upon seeing the sizing chart Remy hit a roadblock. Muttering, "How the hell, am I supposed to know which one I need to choose. Whatever happened to small, medium, large?"

"Problems?" Tom asked, trying not to laugh at the angry scowl on Remy's face. Remy glared at Tom upon hearing the humor in his voice. Tom stood up and took a closer look at the screen. "Nice, so whats the problem?"

"Just trying to figure out what to put for size."

"Well do you know your measurements? I'm gonna take your silence as a no. Well come on stand up."

Tom stated as he pulled out Remy's chair. He pushed it to a corner and started towards Remy.

Remy stood from the chair, and turned around to see Tom advancing towards him. Remy backed up till he hit the wall. He licked his suddenly dry lips and said in barely more than a whisper, "What are you gonna do?"

Tom tore his gaze away from the tempting lips, and held out a tape measure, "I'm gonna take your measurements so you don't have this problem again. Unless you don't want me to."

Remy hid his disappointment and nodded his head. "Sure, you can take Remy's measurements."

Tom started measuring Remy, trying not to linger in an area to long. "I've been meaning to ask you, where did you grow up. I can't seem to place your accent, I know its French but not from anywhere I've been to." 'Thats not saying a lot, Tom, you've barely been anywhere.'

Remy tried not to fidget as Tom moved from measuring his chest to his legs. "Remy be from N'Orleans. Grew up there in the thieves guild."

"Must have been nice. I hear thats a wonderful city. Maybe you could show me around sometime."

Remy let out a low groan as Tom's hot breath penetrated though his jeans as Tom talked. Hearing the groan Tom stood up and turned away. "It was just a thought. You don't have to show me the city if you don't want to." Tom sat down at the desk with his list and entered the required information for Remy's coat.

Remy's brain caught up with what Tom had just said. 'He thinks I groaned because I didn't want to show him the city. Not good. Need to fix this.' "Non, its not that. I wouldn't mind showing round N'Orleans its just I can't." Seeing a quirked eyebrow he continued. "I'm not allowed to enter the city, haven't been since I was a teen." Remy swallowed thickly as thoughts of his banishment overcame him.

Seeing the conflicting emotions Tom reached out, "Come sit. No need to keep it bottled up. Its not healthy, believe me I know." Tom patted his lap, trying to lighten the mood. Remy thought about running but seeing understanding in Tom's bright green eyes, he took the seat offered and leaned against the firm chest. Tom gently rubbed circles along Remy's slightly shaking form. "Shh, you're alright. Take you're time, I'm right here."

Remy took a shuddering breath as he started talking into Tom's neck, "Was taken in by the Thieves guild when I was 'bout 8. Had a friend from the neighboring assassins guild. Never happened before. When we turned 13 the guild leaders decided to unite under one leadership to stop the bloodshed between the guilds. I was to marry my friend. We thought nothing of it, if it helped the family then thats what we would do. We agreed that the marriage would be in name only after all we were young and had grown up together, we acted more like brother and sister than anything else. Once the wedding was over, Bella's older brother challenged me to a duel saying I had to fight for the honor of his sister. I couldn't back down without being seen as a coward and making the guild look bad so I accepted. We fought with swords. He wouldn't yield even after I had unarmed him. Bella came over to yell at him but he just tossed her aside and ran onto my blade when I turned back around. It was an accident but since he was killed. In accordance with the treaty I was banished never to enter the city again unless I want to be killed on sight." Remy let the tears that he had been holding in for over a decade finally fall.

Tom ignored the breath and lips against his neck as he listened to Remy's tale. When he felt the tears falling down his shoulder he just held Remy tighter and continued rubbing circles into his back. Feeling his breathing evening out Tom angled his head to see that Remy's eyes had closed in sleep. 'I should put him in bed, letting that much emotion out at one time must have really tired him out.' Tom carefully stood up carrying Remy bridal style to his room. He gently placed Remy under the covers and went to move away when Remy's arms around his neck stopped him. He tried to leave again when he heard a whimper. Looking down at Remy's sleeping face Tom thought, 'screw it, I could use a nap.'

He laid down next to Remy trying to keep some space between them, only to have Remy curl up against his side. 'Mental note hes a cuddlier. I hope he doesn't flip out when he wakes up later.' Tom thought as he closed his eyes to get a short nap.

Remy woke up slowly, enjoying the warmth of the firm body he was wrapped around. 'Wait a minute, what body.' Remy cracked an eye open to find Tom lying almost completely under him. He tried to move over only to be stopped by Tom's arms around his waist pulling him back down. "Tom?" Remy swallowed as his body started to respond to Tom's proximity. "Tom, I need you .." Remy broke off on a gasp as Tom shifted under him, brushing his erection with his hip. "Mmm, gods." Remy sucked in a deep breath as one of Tom's hands left his waist and landed on his ass. "Tom," Remy tried to roll away only to have Tom move with him, Toms leg went between his own creating intense friction against his groin. Moaning deep inside his chest, Remy tried and failed to keep his hips from bucking. 'Gods, I shouldn't take of advantage of this. But damn its hard not to respond.' "Tom, you really....mmm... need to … oh gods... wake up now." Remy felt Tom's grip on his ass tighten and the other hand pulled his neck down to Toms level. Feeling hot breath against his skin as Tom gently nuzzled his neck, Remy's hips bucked with wild abandon. ""Tom, … oh...Tom....yes.. please gods." Remy stiffened as his orgasm threatened, "OH... Gods... TOM!" Remy panted as he came hard. 'can't believe I just did that.'

Tom jerked awake at his name being shouted in his ear. He shot out of the bed and went into a defensive crouch on instinct. "What is it? Whats the matter?" Tom slowly raised himself from his crouch as his mind registered no threats. "**_Remy_**?" Tom's mind finally registered that he was in Remy's room and until recently in the bed. 'Damn, he must have woke up first and got scared seeing me in his bed.' Tom closed his eyes and stated, "I'm sorry if I frightened you being in your bed. You fell asleep on me and brought you up here, when you didn't release me I figured I could just lay down until you did. I must've fallen asleep too. Are you alright?"

Remy nodded, not trusting his voice just yet, thinking furiously, 'He doesn't know, should I tell him what happened? No, he'd be disgusted. Just act normally and pretend that it didn't happen.' "Oui, Remy fine. Just didn't expect it." Remy watched Tom relax slightly and said, "So, lunch time yet?" earning himself a grin.

Tom grinned and relaxed some more at the question 'good, hes not holding it against me.' "Yeah, its lunch time. I'll go see what I can whip up." Tom stated as he left the room.

Remy let out a deep sigh as he heard Tom going down the stairs. 'That was close.' he thought as he made his way to take a shower and change his now sticky clothes. Once changed he made his way downstairs to see if there was anything he could help with.

Tom was in the kitchen making a light lunch of chicken noodle soup while trying to banish the picture of a rumpled and out of breath Remy laying spread out on the bed, from his mind. Hearing movement from the doorway he focused on the soup again.

"Anything Remy can help with."

"Sure, you can get the crackers from the cabinet over there." Tom said pointing to the cabinet. Tom ladled out two piping hot bowls and set them on the table. He then called up the security monitors to replay any conversations with the key words, tracker, device, chip, or dead. After bypassing the first conversation and any others that involved the marauders eating, he hit gold.

_Sinister was at his desk in the ruin base. He had maps spread around him and a beacon in his hand that was giving off pings in several directions. He growled in frustration. "What is causing this interference with my tracking device. Nothing has ever affected them before." Suddenly the beacon gave off a high pitched squeal in one location before going blank. "No, no. NO!" Sinister smashed his desk with his fist before composing himself. "No matter, I can still recover his body to use for my experiments, I at least got a direction before he died. CREED..."_

Tom skipped over the next conversation and focused on where the team was in relation to the house. 'So what to do now that they're headed in the right direction.' "Interesting" Tom murmured as he turned off the monitor and started eating.

Remy saw Tom viewing something on a screen and heard him say interesting, from where he sat eating. Unable to hold in his curiosity he asked, "Whats interesting."

Tom looked up startled from his thoughts, "Nothing really, just thinking." Tom sighed deciding since it concerned his guest as well he might as well give him an update on the situation. "Your trackers believe you to be dead when the signal went blank."

"Thats good then, they stop looking now right." Remy asked hopefully.

Tom shook his head, "No, they are determined to bring your body back anyway. They have consolidated the search into our general direction as the tracker gave it before dieing."

"Oh."

"Its not a problem to me, should they come too close the wards would take care of them as they see fit. The only thing is, do I let them continue on a futile search or setup a false body in their path."

"I don't think a fake would fool them." Remy said quietly.

"Sure it could, I would just need a few things from you."

"What you need from Remy?"

"Nothing much, just a few things. Don't worry about it now." Tom stated in a distracted tone as he mentally listed what potions were needed and what exactly Remy would have to contribute. After they finished eating Tom said, "Alright follow me, and I'll start making your double."

Tom lead Remy deep down into the dungeons. He ushered Remy ahead of him and closed the door. He pulled out something from his pocket and set it on the floor. Unshrinking the desk Tom took from his pocket he proceeded to transfigure it into a male pig with red eyes before stunning it. Remy watched all this in fascination. "Whats the pig for?"

Tom chuckled, "That pig is going to be your double. Most people don't realize that pigs and human anatomy are almost exactly identical. This makes what we're doing that much easier." Tom took out a few vials of potions and set them aside before approaching Remy. "I need a few things from you now." receiving a nod he continued. "I need a few skin cells first. Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." He took out some nail clippers and grabbed Remy's hand then clipped off a few nails and a cuticle or two and added them into a vial. After shaking the potion for a minute he proceeded to feed it to the pig. "That will give the pig your physical appearance."

Remy watched as the pig grew in height and its arms and legs lengthened while the face evened out to human proportions. "How long this last?" he questioned.

"It'll be permanent once we're done with the changes. Next I'll need a few strands of your hair."

Tom took the strands and repeated the process as he watched the pig sprout hair matching Remy's exactly all over its body. "The outer appearance is finished, now we just need to change its inner makeup."

"How so?"

"He wants to use your body for research, we can't have him finding pig DNA instead of human so I'll be needing to use some of your blood." Tom made a small cut on Remy's hand and let it drip into another potion before healing it. He then injected the potion into the pig which gave a grunt as the potion changed the makeup of the brain and the remaining fluids. "Well, what do you think?" asked Tom as he summoned the ruined clothes that Remy had been wearing when he arrived.

He handed the clothes to Remy and said, "Here, you get to dress him while I clean up."

Remy watched as Tom picked up all the vials used and made his way over to a sink and started washing them by hand. Remy dressed his double noting that it was an exact copy right down to the littlest detail. "So now what, we gonna do with em?"

"I'll drop it off at an appropriate spot that they should be able to find within the next few days." Tom took hold of the copy and appaparated to a random spot, dropped off the double so it looked like it fell naturally and went back home not more than thirty seconds later. Tom appeared behind Remy and put his hands over the mans eyes. "Guess who?" he chuckled when Remy jumped backwards into his chest. "You spook too easy, **_Remy_**_. _Its just me."

"I wasn't spooked. Your hands was cold thats all." Remy fibbed.

"Hmm, that so." Tom stated as he lead Remy out of the dungeons and back to the normal levels of the house. "Enjoy the rest of the afternoon, I'm sure theres more forms I need to fill out waiting on my desk. I'll see you at dinner." Tom said as he walked away down the hall.

Remy went to the library to practice his writing again. He was determined to learn this language, for the sheer reason that when he got back to the states and he and Tom could use it as a secure way to keep in touch. And he wouldn't have to answer annoying questions about the letters contents.

The next two weeks became almost routine. Most days Tom worked in his office till lunch while Remy practiced his writing either in the library or occasionally joining Tom in his office to use the computer to order a few more things he would need once he was on his own again. They would eat lunch together then hang out for the rest of the day. Either reading on the couch, watching movies, playing video games, or just talking about their pasts. The sparing continued, leaving both men aching and hard at the end of each session. Once Sinister found the double and left with the maurders, they were able to ride the snowmobiles.

Remy sat on the couch absentmindedly flipping through the channels, while Tom sat on a chair with his legs over the arm and one hand played with his hair as he read a book in parseltounge. "Tom?"

"Hmm."

"Can we go outside again?" Remy asked hopefully.

"I suppose." Tom answered as he marked his place and set his book aside. "What do you want to do outside?"

Remy shrugged, "Maybe build a snowman. Never did that before."

"Alright, go get your shoes. I'll cast heating charms on us so we don't need to bundle up so much." Remy took off before Tom had finished speaking. Tom chuckled to himself, 'and hes supposed to be two years older than me.'

"Remys, all ready. Mon Ami." he stated from where he stood leaning against the door, waiting not so patiently for Tom.

"Alright, I'm coming." Tom said as he cast heating charms over himself and Remy. "There you can go play now."

Remy took off out the door as soon as he got it open. While Remy made himself his snowman, Tom became mischievous and started stockpiling snowballs behind his own attempt at a snowman. Once he had over a hundred piled up he called out. "You done yet, **_Remy_**?"

"Oui, come see what you think." Remy answered back.

Tom walked behind Remy and admired the snowman. "Very good. Much better than mine." Tom then grabbed the collar of Remy's shirt and dropped a snowball down his back and danced away.

"Cold, cold, cold." Remy muttered as he tried to get the snow out of his shirt. "This be war." he stated to the happily laughing Tom.

"So be it." Tom yelled before he launched a volley of snowballs in Remy's direction, laughing the whole time as he watched Remy dodge his throws. Once he ran out of ammo he took off running.

"Come back here." the snow covered man yelled as he took off after the cackling green eyed man.

"If you want me so bad, come get me." said Tom from 5 feet infront of Remy smiling widely.

"I'll get you" Remy said as he took a running jump at Tom. Tom watched him take the jump and smirked before jumping as well. He intercepted Remy's path and used his greater momentum to guide their fall to land with Remy on the bottom.

"Hmm, looks like I win." He breathed out mere millimeters from Remy's lips.

Remy watched as their breath mingled in the cold air as he felt the firm weight of Tom straddling him. He licked his lips and got out, "Oui, you win. What can Remy do for the victor."

Tom's eyes flickered for a second as his mind caught up with his body. "Hmm, You ..can make the cocoa tonight." Tom grinned as he pushed himself up before holding out a hand to help Remy up as well. "That was fun. We should do it again sometime. But now you have some cocoa to make." Tom said as he brushed the snow off his friend.

Tom went to bed early after his night time solo workout. Remy sat on the couch in the living room having finished off his fifth beer while watching a late night marathon of Red Dwarf. He was just heading upstairs to bed when he heard loud guttural noises coming from the kitchen. Seeing a holographic stylized G hovering over the table he figured it must be important and decided to wake Tom up. He knocked on the door and called out, "Tom, your kitchen phone thing is making noises. Tom." He knocked again before opening the door to shake Tom awake. No sooner had he touched Tom's shoulder than he found himself pressed against the wall with a knife at his throat. Remy sobered quickly at the feel of steel against his skin and licked his suddenly dry lips and said in just above a whisper. "Tom, its me Remy. Come on Tom put the knife down."

Recognition slowly entered Tom's eyes and he lowered the knife, but didn't release his captive, "_What are you doing in here, _**_Remy__. _**_ I could have sssslit your throat._" Tom growled making his words come out in a mixture of English and parseltounge.

Remy swallowed, 'This is so not the time for my body to misbehave.' he thought before answering, "The kitchen hologram thing was making noises. So I came to get you." Tom let out a string of curses in several different languages he made his way downstairs at a run to answer the phone. Remy sagged against the wall as soon as he was released. 'Note to self: Don't do that again.' he thought as he headed to his room to take a long hot shower while envisioning Tom pressing him against the wall for a whole nother reason.

**Downstairs**

Tom answered the phone. "What is it? Whats the emergency?"

"Calm down, Tom." stated Ragnock

Tom glared at the goblin before letting out a fierce growl. "_I almossst killed my houssse guessst becaussse he thought I ssshould know there wasss a call in the middle of the night. Now ssspill."_

Ragnock grimaced at the hissing tone Tom used, it was almost spoken in parseltounge. "Alright, we need your help. One of our curse breakers in Egypt is trapped in a tomb. We've tried going in after him but it seems a snake guardian was triggered and it won't let anyone else close. He can communicate with us and seems fine for now but we don't know for how long or why he was even trapped."

Tom sighed, "Send over a portkey, for two and have my house livable for when we finish the rescue mission."

Ragnock agreed, "Already done, along with your guests documents."

"I'll contact you when I'm done." Tom said as he clicked off the connection. 'Great, now I need to be the one to wake Remy up.' he thought as he summoned the papers, portkey, and his battle packs along with his spare for Remy to use. Tom stopped in the hall outside Remy's room. He got out his battle gear from his pack and started dressing while calling out, "I hope your not asleep Remy, cause we need to go." Remy opened the door in still dripping wet from the shower with only a towel around his waist. "Put these on." Tom said as he tossed his spare gear over. "We leave in five minutes." Remy quickly began dressing in the clothes he was given.

Tom finished suiting up in his battle gear. He had on black leather pants, tight black muscle shirt, black dragon hide boots and a black ribbon tied his hair back. The daggers of Slytherin adorned his arms, a potion belt around his waist and a long black leather duster that was enchanted with numerous protective charms covered everything. The sword of Gryffindor was slung across his back and fingerless black dragon hide gloves completed the outfit. Remy was dressed similarly only in a deep dark green. Upon seeing the weapons Tom was wearing he grabbed his deck of cards and Bo staff that Tom had replaced for him. Tom had shrunk everything else and put them in his pockets. Looking Remy over, Tom stated, "Ready, good take my hand and don't let go." Tom activated the ring portkey and with a whispered "Rescue." They were gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: whats mine is mine and whats not is not.

_**parseltounge**_

_partial parseltounge_

**Egypt **

They landed amidst several anxious goblins and a few bored human workers. Tom caught Remy as he stumbled before conjuring sunglasses for each of them. As Remy put the glasses on Tom glared at the wizards that had stopped to gawk at their arrival. "What are you lot gawking at?" Tom barked. He then turned towards the goblins who were watching the scene with amusement, recognizing one he called out. "Sharptooth, Been a long time. Hows the wife and son?"

Sharptooth grinned up at Tom shocking the human workers. "She's doing wonderful, Parsel, and the little warrior loves the battle-axe you sent him at Winter Solstice."

"Good to hear it. Maybe we can..." Tom trailed off as he glanced around again, seeing the wizards still standing around with their jaws open, Tom stiffened. He then turned to face the staring wizards and said. "Since you're still standing here, I assume you have nothing better to do but eavesdrop on your betters. If thats the case I'll give you something to do." Tom pointed to wizards at random, "You, fetch us coffee. You two clear a conference area for my use. You, bring us something to eat and take it to the new area."

The wizards were torn between indignation and self preservation. Here was a person, obviously dangerous judging by his attire, who not only addressed goblins by name but knew intimate details about said goblins home life. Tom glanced back at Sharptooth and gestured towards the dumbfounded wizards. Sharptooth gave him a wink and growled, "Get a move on you lot, we aren't paying you to stand around catching flies all day. Clan Brother Parsel gave you an order, now hop to it."

Parsel sighed, "You didn't have to give them my title."

"More fun that way, clears up issues faster. Besides wasn't your full title anyway." Griphook glanced at Remy, "Who's your friend?"

Tom pulled Gambit up beside himself. "This is Gambit, he'll be sharing my quarters while we're here. Treat him as you would me."

Sharptooth nodded satisfied. "Yes Parsel. I'll have Leadfoot take your bags and setup your quarters while we meet up with the others." Tom handed over his things and still holding onto Gambit he followed after Sharptooth.

Remy's head was spinning with questions about what had just happened. But judging by Tom's attitude towards the non-goblin workers, he felt it best to wait until they had some privacy before voicing them. Gambit tried to ignore the mixed looks of awe and envy that followed them as they walked. Finally they ended on top of a rise overlooking the entire encampment where a large tent had been setup. Tom stopped just outside the tent flaps and overrode the spells already in place with his own set of wards before entering.

Once out of site of the human workers Tom allowed his body to relax slightly and he released Remy's hand before facing him. "My codename is Parsel, unless we are in my quarters, I need you to refer to me by that name as I will be referring to you as Gambit. We are in Egypt, I have been asked to conduct a rescue mission since my particular skills makes me the only possible diplomat at this time. Stay close to the goblins and do not answer any questions about me or where we came from that the humans might ask. I would prefer you didn't interact with them at all but that wouldn't be feasible. Any other questions you may have I will answer later when we finish for the day, but right now I need to work."

Gambit noted Tom's agitated stance as he gave answers to several of his unvoiced questions. He took in the strained expression and clouded worried eyes, before answering. "Gambit don't know what all this 'bout, but I trust you."

Tom relaxed and allowed himself a small smile, before either could say more a sharp voice was heard from outside the tent walls. "Parsel! Its Griphook, Open up already." Tom released the wards he had cast that was preventing anyone entrance.

Griphook entered trailed by the wizards Tom had sent on errands earlier. Tom sent out secret detections spells over the food and drink that the wizards had brought in. He didn't think they would do anything to them but, he wasn't going to chance it. Tom motioned Remy to a seat infront of a plate of food and drink before taking a seat himself. Tom took a long drink before saying, "You're all excused." To the hovering wizards. Once he was sure they had left, Tom slumped in his chair, causing Griphook to chuckle.

"You won't have to put up with them for long Parsel." Griphook stated earning himself a half-hearted glare. "I'm afraid we need to get down to business."

"Very well, Status report?"

"We were wrong in our original assessment. It appears theres not one person trapped but rather two." Griphook hesitated before continuing, "Had I known just who was inside, we …..

Tom tensed as Griphook began to ramble, "Who is it Griphook?"

Griphook swallowed before mumbling, "Draco Black and Ronald Weasley."

"Bloody fucking hell! How the fuck did this happen?" Tom shouted while trying not to lose control of his magic, as it was the empty plates on the table started vibrating.

Remy winced at the intense amount of anger and pain that was rolling off of Tom at the names. Tom noticed the wince and forcefully shutoff his emotions. After slowly counting to ten Tom sighed and took a potion off his belt and downed it. "_**Remy**_, are you alright?" Tom asked in concern.

"Oui, you just battered my shields abit. Be fine in a minute." Remy said as he rubbed his temples.

Tom didn't take his eyes off Remy as he said, "Explain, Griphook."

The goblin shivered at the icy tone. We're not sure what exactly happened. All I know is Black went in to study for his exams later this month. A senior employee entered with Ronald and two females around the same time. The females and employee we're ejected from the tomb at about the same time as the guardian appeared and a distress beacon was sent up. The ones that we're ejected are currently unconscious. We only have limited communications with the ones inside as Black only had his trainee beacon attached. Meaning we can hear them but he can't hear us. Once again I'm so sorry we have put you in this situation."

Tom waved off the apology. "Whats done is done and not your fault. Do we know where in the tomb they are situated?"

"The burial chamber."

Tom put all the pieces together and came up with a plausible theory to what had happened. _'Draco was making notes on the curses used while the Weasleys explored the tomb. Bill would be explaining things to Ron and the females. Ron would have seen Draco and started taunting him. The taunts would have ended in a scuffle which ended in the burial chamber. The wards that had been left in place on the chamber would have activated throwing the others out and sealing them inside. Wadjet, protector of kings, was not pleased as evidenced by the guardian.'_

"What have you received via the transmissions?"

Griphook let out a grumble, "Besides their names, location and that they are relatively unharmed. Just a lot of grumbling and taunts from the Weasley boy."

Tom let out a low chuckle as his theory seemed more plausible. 'The gods hate me' he thought. "I'll rescue them, but I will not be held responsible for my actions, should they try my patience. Is that clear?"

Griphook let out a relieved breath before replying. "I wouldn't hold it against you should you hex them just on principle."

Tom stood from his chair and faced Remy, "I need to go now. Will you be alright staying here or would like an escort to our quarters?"

"Can't Gambit go with you? Wouldn't be the first time I've navigated a tomb." Remy asked quietly, trying not to seem clingy.

Tom thought about it for a minute. 'the tomb is mostly harmless, the guardian should leave us alone once I figure out how to appease it. I would be more likely to keep my temper with Remy next to me and if the wards are parsel-based like I'm thinking Remy could cover any noise I make.' "Alright, but stay close to me. And follow my lead"

"Oui, Gambit do that."

The two men made their way down the hill to the tomb entrance where a 50ft sand colored cobra was coiled up waiting with its hood flared. Tom made sure that Remy was directly behind him as they approached. The guardian eyed them as they entered speaking distance Tom knelt with a fist held over his chest. Remy copied the movements seconds later. The guardian deliberated for a moment before flattening its hood and speaking, _**"So they finally sent someone to see me. Wadjet does not like to be kept waiting. Well speak Human. What have you to say for yourself?"**_

Tom locked eyes with the Snake's gaze. _**"I apologize for the delay. I was only recently informed of the situation. Had the others been able to speak your language they would have seen to you sooner."**_

"_**They do not speak the noble tongue of snakes." **_

Tom shook his head, _**"No my lady, out of all the world I am the last with this ability."**_

"_**If only you speak, then why is he here?"**_ The guardian questioned as she focused her gaze on Remy.

Tom tensed before replying, _**"Should you allow us to retrieve the prisoners I will require his assistance."**_

"_**Thats not the whole truth, you could retrieve them yourself. You have the power, so we don't really need him. I'll just get rid of him, shall I?"**_

"_**NO!"**_ Tom shouted, the snake looked at him speculatively, **_"I apologize for my outburst. But please leave him be. I admit hes not just here to assist. The ones that are prisoners are from my previous life, one a betrayer and one working towards redemption. I thought he might help me to keep my temper when dealing with them."_**

Remy kept his eyes closed as he knelt next to Tom. 'That is one big snake guardian.' he thought. Remy listened as Tom and the snake conversed, the sensuous sounds were slowly driving him crazy as his thoughts strayed from the mission and centered solely on Tom and his silky hissing. Remy bit back a moan as Tom's tone grew forceful. He chanced a glance at the snake and swallowed when he saw it looking at him like he would make a tasty morsel. The snake looked away and Remy breathed a little easier. 'Thats why he wanted to leave me behind.' The hissing continued and sucked Remy back into his lust filled thoughts.

"_**I will accept that answer and leave your lover alone."**_

"_**He's not my lover."**_ Tom blurted out

"_**Why not, you obviously care for him. And hes giving off enough pheromones while we talk that its a wonder he hasn't tried to claim you right here."**_ The snake eyed the now blushing Tom, **_"Or did you not know that?"_** receiving a head shake the snake rolled his eyes before chuckling, _**"Will you claim him? Hmm, yes I can sense that you want to."**_

Tom cleared his throat and willed his blush away, _**"As amusing as I'm sure you are finding this, can we get back to discussing the prisoners?"**_

"_**Getting impatient to take him aren't you?"**_ The snake laughed, **_"Alright I've had my fun for now. The prisoners have entered the sacred burial chamber and only one has showed any respect and repentance for doing so. The other has repeatedly disrespected the chamber and must be punished accordingly."_**

"_**Which one is which? And how shall we punish him?"**_

"_**The loud mouthed red head needs to be punished harshly. We care not how as long as justice is observed."**_

"_**Yes, Milady. I shall hand him over to the goblins for retribution. They should satisfy your desire for harshness."**_

"_**Then you are free to retrieve them."**_

"_**Thank you, Wadjet is most generous."**_ Tom stood up and held out a hand to Remy to help him up, trying to ignore the hissing laughter from the snake as it disappeared. "Come, **_Remy_**." Gambit bit back a moan as he tried not to do just that as he took Tom's hand and stood. Tom licked his lips as he eyed Remy, his erection evident in the leather clothing. 'Work first. Play later.' he admonished himself. Tom explained part of what the snake had said to Remy, "Apparently only one of the prisoners did anything wrong. In doing so he angered the goddess Wadjet and now must be punished. The other didn't do anything but get caught in the crossfire and is blameless. Once we reach the chamber, I will need to unravel the wards so we take them back to camp."

"Wait, back up a second. One of them angered a goddess and now needs to be punished." Tom nodded. "He is so fucked when we get him out of there."

Tom chuckled, "Most likely. The goblins will be handling that part. But it should be fun to watch."

They continued on for another five minutes before coming to a stop infront of a door covered in the squiggles and dots that denoted parseltounge. They heard an angry voice from the other side. "This is so your fault Malfoy. When we get out of here I'm going to tell the aurors what you've done then you'll go to Azkaban where you belong. You should have been there when the war ended. Hey, look at me when I talk to you, ferret."

Hearing enough Tom whispered to Remy, "I'm going to work on the door. I need you to distract them while I speak the spells, I don't want anyone knowing that I can speak the language. Can you do that for me."

Remy nodded and stepped closer to the door, "You know, you really shouldn't make so much noise inside a tomb. Gets the gods all riled up."

"Who's there?" Draco asked.

"The name be Gambit, Mind telling me why me and my buddy got a late night call to come save your asses?"

"Its all his fault. He did something, I know he did. Tried to get me and my family killed most likely but got trapped in here as well. Isn't that right ferret boy."

Draco ignored Ron and said, "I'm truly sorry that you and your friend had to come out here. I will be sure...ungh"

Draco broke off on a grunt as Ron punched him the gut. "Shut up, ferret boy. They don't want to talk to a loser like you, when they can talk to a hero like me." Ron stated before he spoke to Gambit again. "The names Ron Weasley by the way. I'll be sure to sign an autograph once you get me out of here. More if you leave the ferret."

"What the hell would I want your autograph for? A hero, he says. If your such a hero then you would be able to get yourself out of that chamber. Moreover you wouldn't be in there to begin with."

"Whatever, just get us out of here already." Ron whined.

"Now thats not the way to make us work faster. In fact, Parsel, lets take a break all this work is making me thirsty." Gambit looked over to see a smiling Parsel shake his head and signal to keep talking. "Fine but you owe me a drink later." Parsel nodded.

Turning back to the door Gambit continued. "You're in luck. My partners almost done, and if it didn't mean starting all over we would take that drink."

Tom finished the last counter curse and said, "Thats it."

"Well, open the door already, so I can leave. I'm hungry." Came Ron's voice once again.

Gambit saw Tom sigh and said, "Shut up in there."

Tom looked gratefully at Remy before facing the door and began making his request, "Wadjet, Protector of kings from all enemies. We come to remove the intruders from your domain as promised. Please allow us entrance." A bright light issued from the door as it slowly dissolved from the middle outward, till the door was no more.

Once the door was gone Parsel sent two stunners inside the chamber and levitated the bodies infront of himself. "Time to go, Gambit."

They made their way back to the camp and Griphook meet them at the entrance. "Thank you, Parsel. Why were they trapped?"

"You heard the conversation as we brought down the door correct?" Griphook nodded. "Thats how it started, Mr. Weasley here taunted the other boy which most likely ended in a scuffle outside the chamber. Once inside the wards protecting the Pharaoh became active. The blond would've been released as he was repentant for entering the chamber. The other boy continued to be disrespectful the entire time which kept the door from releasing anyone. Wadjet wishes the Weasley to be punished harshly. The other is free to go."

"This will be tricky. But the gods must be appeased. Can I count on your help with coming up with a just punishment?"

Tom grinned, "Like you could keep me away. But for now, I believe Gambit and I should change into something, not so intimidating. After all it wouldn't do for me to become angered while armed."

Griphook cackled, "Too true, Parsel, Too true. You go get changed, your tent is setup over there."

"Many thanks, Griphook. Come on Gambit, we can get a shower before the fun begins."

Gambit followed after Parsel as he lead them through the camp to the far side. Tom brought up several additional wards on his tent. As soon as the tent flap closed behind Remy, Tom started to disrobe on his way to the bathroom. He stopped before the door wearing only his boxers and looked back at Remy. "You coming?"

'Almost' Remy thought as he eyed the body before him picturing it dripping wet. "We can conserve water by showering together." Tom finished saying as he stepped into the bathroom.

Remy groaned and started getting undressed. He entered the shower just as Tom turned on the water, and once again found himself up against a wall with Tom's hard body pressing into him. Remy felt himself harden as he licked his lips and said, "What.." A second later Tom's lips had found his and all thoughts stopped. He returned the kiss with rising passion as his brain registered an answering hardness pressed against his. Tom licked Remy's lips seeking entrance. Remy gasped at the sensation, allowing Tom's tongue entrance as he grinded against him swallowing his moans of pleasure with his mouth. A hand encircling his leaking cock proved too much for him and he came moments before Tom reached his own completion. Breathing heavily Tom backed away and started getting clean. Remy sagged against the wall watching Tom for a minute before starting to clean himself as well.

After they had finished getting dressed in fresh clothes Remy asked nervously, "Tom, did that change anything, with regards to us?"

Tom tensed and replied hiding his anxiety, "I will leave that decision up to you. I would like to try a relationship with you but if you don't want to..." Remy grabbed Tom's collar and pulled him into a hard kiss. Tom had a moment of shock before he took control of the kiss and deepened it while running his hands over Remy's body. Stopping only once air became an issue. Remy moaned as the kiss ended as he leaned his head against Tom's shoulder he heard Tom hiss into his ear, _"I'll take that as a yesss."_ Remy shivered at the silky tone.

"_I intend to finish this once our work is complete._ Tom stepped out of Remy's embrace before saying, "For now we should see what the goblins have come up with in our absence." They straightened their clothes and exited the tent.

Parsel and Gambit returned to the main portion of the camp wearing identical outfits of khaki colored cotton trousers, white muscle shirts, combat boots and dark sunglasses. Appreciative whistles could be heard coming from the human contingent of the camp as they made their way over to Griphook. Before they had reached their destination a loud screeching voice was heard, "What have you done to him?! I demand you wake him this instant!"

"Why the hell do you have him next to that loser? He's a celebrated hero and as such, filth like that shouldn't be allowed within a hundred yards of him." sneered another screechy voice.

Tom could see Bill off to the side of the group, distancing himself from the others and trying to placate the surrounding goblins. Parsel had Remy cover his ears before issuing a loud whistle that cut across the camp. Griphook sighed in relief when the females screeching had stopped, "Thank you for that Parsel."

"Anytime, Griphook. How else may I be of assistance?" Tom asked as he and Remy took the empty seats on Griphooks right hand side, causing a gasp from Bill as he took in the significance of the placing. No human had ever been allowed to sit without permission by a goblin before, let alone sit in seats reserved for the most trusted advisors. Add to that the familiarity and ease with which they conversed led Bill to realize that these were people not to cross.

"Well, for starters you could wake them up as your stunners have yet to wear off." Tom shrugged before casting silent and wandless enervates to the prone figures in the sand.

Ron and Draco woke up groaning. "When I get my hands on the guy who sent that stunner, I'm gonna..." Bill hastily rushed over and put his hand over his brothers mouth.

"He doesn't know what hes saying, its the stress talking. He wouldn't real..." Tom silenced him with a raised hand, he then motioned him to step aside. Bill did so with a mixture of relief and regret.

"Now, that all parties are awake, we can begin. Griphook, the floor is yours."

Griphook grinned at Tom, "Thank you again, Parsel."

Draco looked up at the seats upon hearing that and blurted out, "Parsel, as in..?"

Tom glared and said harshly, "Yes, Parsel." He flickered his gaze to the others and back again hoping Draco would get the point and shut up. Draco noticed the flicker and gave a minute nod before bowing his head once more. 'That was close.' Tom thought. "The next one who speaks out of turn will be silenced. Please continue Griphook."

Griphook saw Tom erect a privacy ward around himself and Gambit before he turned back to the matter at hand. "Now then, we need statements from each of you about the events that happened from the time you entered the tomb to your exit. We'll start with you, Ms. Weasley."

Ginny gave a coy smile as she looked over to the two handsome males seated not faraway. She said in her most innocent voice, "We had gone inside the tomb with Bill. He was showing us all the really fascinating curses that the ancients used to protect the tomb from robbers. It was really exiting. Then we saw Malfoy over there making some notes on a piece of parchment. Ron went over to see what he was doing and the next thing I know, I woke up back in camp."

"I see, You next Ms. Granger." Griphook motioned with distaste.

Hermione spoke in her lecturing tone, "Its just like Ginny said. We went in with Bill, I made notes of all the different types of hieroglyphs they used, It really is intriguing that they used so many different types in one tomb." Griphook glared at her to get on with it. "Right, anyway, we saw Malfoy making notes as well and Ron went over to see if he would share with me and the next thing I know is waking up here."

As the statements were being taken Tom hissed to Remy, _**"Remy, **_if you have any questions about whats going on, nows the time to ask. I have a privacy ward up, no one can hear us till I take it down but we can still hear them, should we be needed."

Remy contained his shiver of pleasure at his hissed name, "Oui, just got a few for now. What did they do to you and why? Also why do they keep calling the blond by another name and what did his reaction to your name mean?"

"Never ask the easy questions do you? Alright, they pretended to be my friends since I was eleven. While secretly they were hiding my heritage from me and stealing from my trunk while we were at school. The red head female wanted to use a love potion on me so she could get pregnant and had I died the child would have inherited all my monies, titles, possessions you name it and she would have it. Had I survived I would be forced to marry her or face scorn for abandoning her and the child." Tom took a drink from a glass of firewhiskey he had conjured.

"As for the blond, he was my school rival. During the later part of the war he turned spy to help out our side just like his godfather did. The name Malfoy used to bring respect before his father destroyed it with his power hungry climb to power. When he fell the name went with it leaving Draco and his mother flat broke and no where to turn. His mother was my godfather's cousin. When he made me his heir before he died that made us something like second cousins once removed or some such. When I let my old self 'die' and became known as Tom 'Parsel' Harrison all the old titles and holdings were transferred over. I felt it was only right to take care of my family. He and his mother have been granted a chance to prove they are not the same as the senior Malfoy was. They recently were granted the right to use the name Black, letting the Malfoy name finally die out. He has correctly assumed that I am that 'Parsel' who sees to his and his mother's well being and can either grant them the coveted title of Head of House like they are hoping for or take everything I have granted away on a whim."

Remy took in all that Tom had explained to him, and fought down his anger at the scheming individuals, before saying, "And none of them have any idea who you were."

Tom shook his head, "They don't have a clue about either identity. Draco is rightfully cautious as not only am I his liege lord, but also he has an inkling about just how influential I am in the wizarding world as he been allowed to become my proxy in the government covering the Black name. For the other names I hold I use the goblins which fills up quite a few seats in during voting sessions." Tom grinned as he turned back to the interviews it was Ron's turn.

"Mr. Ronald Weasley. Your turn to explain what happened." Griphook said.

"I didn't do anything. I was following behind Bill and the girls when I saw the ferret over there making notes on his parchment, probably writing down how to work some of those curses to use on us honest folks. I demanded he hand the notes over so he couldn't get any ideas, he refused, I made a grab for them and we ended up in that stupid chamber with the door closed. I know its his fault he did something to make that happen. Then he refused to let me back out again. We argued for awhile until some guy started talking to us from the other side. Malfoy tried to suck up to them so he could weasel his way out of punishment. I had them hurry up so I could get back to my Mione. Next thing I know the doors gone and a stunner hit me then I woke up here."

"Next Mr. Black if you would?"

A chorus of "how dare you call him that?" went up before four silencing spells came from Tom's direction followed by full body binds. "You were warned. Mr. Black, your statement." Tom spoke from his seat.

Draco composed himself before telling his side of the story. "I was making notes for my exams at the end of the month so I can become a full employee, when those four entered the tomb. I ignored them as the blood feud between our houses dissolved when I was granted the name Black two weeks ago." Draco gave a quick smile to Parsel at that before continuing, "I was almost finished with the ones outside the burial chamber, but they were trickier as I didn't recognize the hieroglyphs at all, when Ron came over calling me names and demanding that I hand over my notes before he made me. I refused to let him have them and made to leave when he grabbed them and pushed me into the burial chamber. I grabbed onto his arm hoping to stop my fall but instead we both overbalanced and landed inside the chamber. The door closed after us. Immediately I dropped to my knees in front of the sarcophagus and asked for forgiveness for my rude entry. Ron kept talking and trying to fight me the whole time while we waited for someone to come get us. When Gambit showed up, I thanked them through the door and was trying to apologize for making them come out here when Ron punched me in the gut. He then insulted them and complained that they were taking too long. When the door finally opened two stunners were sent in and thats all I know."

"Very good, Mr. Black. Now only one left. Mr. William Weasley."

Bill's throat went dry as he was asked to speak. He didn't want to lose his job by lying to his superior, his family would probably hate for not siding with them but if he truly wasn't a Malfoy any longer than the feud was dead and buried. "I took the others inside the tomb because Hermione wanted to examine the way the ancients did things. Ron and Ginny came along because they were bored at the hotel. We made our way to the inner chambers when we saw Mal-Draco. I had just entered a debate with Hermione over which curse was being used on the treasure room when I heard the a scuffle near the burial chamber. I saw Ron and Draco fall into the chamber and then I woke up here." The other Weasleys sent glares at Bill for not agreeing exactly with them.

Parsel removed the binds on the others once the questioning was over and said, "Now that we have heard from all parties. I suggest we adjourn for the time being, until we find a suitable punishment to appease the goddess's demand."

Griphook recognized that Parsel needed a break from being in close proximity with his past nodded in agreement. "So we shall, Parsel. We will pronounce judgment tomorrow. Weasley's and Granger I suggest you find your own quarters for the night. Mr. Black, I trust you have your standard issue tent on hand." receiving a nod he continued, "Good, No one may leave the encampment until this situation has been resolved. Dismissed."

Parsel took down his privacy ward and made to leave with Gambit when Griphook called him back, "Parsel a moment please?" Tom gave a longing look towards Remy before approaching Griphook, "I know you want to leave the area but we really need you to stay as well. This is tricky business as they are seen as 'heroes' to the wizarding world."

Tom sighed, "Alright, I'll stay here until this is over. Call a council meeting for the morning, we can discuss just punishment then."

"Good idea, hopefully this will be over by tomorrow afternoon. But there is the little detail of his life debt to you."

"Wait, what? Life debt. But surely that doesn't count. I mean ..." Griphook shook his head. "Fuck. But if he owes me one does that mean he also owes Gambit?"

"Most likely."

"Alright I'll talk it over with him tonight and see what we come up with before the council has their way with him. Now I should..." Tom stopped talking as he heard Ginny's voice coming from where Gambit stood waiting. 'She'll stop when he doesn't respond' he thought. 'or not.' he heard the offer and instantly appeared between them.

"Hi there, ...giggle...my names Ginny. Whats yours?" Ginny flirted as she approached Remy's side. Remy glanced down at the chit who was trying to flirt with him before looking away again. Not one to be discouraged easily Ginny continued. "Ooh, your the strong, silent type aren't you. I like that in a man." Ginny fluttered her eyelashes and pulled on her shirt to better show off her cleavage. "I bet you're really powerful, maybe we can go back to your tent and you can 'teach' me some things." She said in a suggestive tone.

Remy tried ignoring the chit but she just wouldn't shut up, even though he wasn't giving her any encouragement. He kept silent, not trusting himself to speak, as he remembered that this was the girl who wanted to use his Tom for her own gain. When she made the offer he was about to angrily tell her off when Parsel suddenly appeared between them.

Tom growled low in his throat, causing his lengthened canines to show, as he glared at the offending female. "Back Off! Bitch." he growled out. 'He looks so hot right now' Remy thought as he heard Tom growl.

Ginny looked frightened for a second before she sneered, "How dare you speak to me like that. We were happily making plans before you showed up. Now begone, before I hex you." Tom grabbed Remy around the waist and apparated them into his tent. Ginny stared at the empty spot that held her soon to be latest conquest in disbelief before she screamed in frustration and stomped off.

**Back in the tent**

Tom had brought them directly into his bedroom. He immediately pulled Remy into a searing kiss and ran his hands under the tight muscle shirt teasing the nipples as he backed Remy up towards the bed. Remy responded to the kiss and let his own hands wander over the firm body against him. When he felt his legs hit the bed he allowed himself to be lowered to the surface and watched as Tom took his shirt off before removing his own. Tom kissed his way down Remy's chest, licking the pert nipples, eliciting a moan from Remy he sucked one into his mouth while he brought his other lower to grasp Remy's hips. Remy was enjoying Tom's kisses and the hands roaming his body, as Tom continued to lick and nip his way down his chest. Tom made his way back up the other side, keeping their bodies flush against each other. Remy bucked under him as he sucked an earlobe into his mouth.

Wanting to feel more skin on his own, Tom banished the remainder of their clothes to the floor. The sudden sensation of their straining cocks suddenly rubbing against each other without restrictions caused Tom to hiss in pleasure and Remy to shout out, "Oh, Gods...Tom..." as they continued to move against each other.

"_Yess,..." _Tom hissed as he brought a hand to trail down the cleft of Remy's ass. He stopped when he noticed Remy tense. "_Relax, I won't do anything you don't want me to. Just say stop and I will."_

Remy's body trembled with the constant sensations, he was well on his way to an orgasm when he felt Tom's hand trail down his ass causing him to tense and bad memories threatened to overwhelm him. He heard Tom say that he wouldn't do anything he didn't want and would stop whenever he wanted. Tom kissed him sweetly before asking, "Do you want me to stop?"

Remy shook his head, "Non, don't want to stop, just not that yet." he whispered avoiding Tom's eyes. 'Please don't reject me' he thought to himself.

"Alright, we'll leave that for another time. I'm sure I can bring you pleasure in other ways." Tom whispered before bringing Remy into deep kiss and stroking the still half hard cock back to full mast. Remy moaned into the kiss, as his body started to relax again and respond to Tom's skillful hands manipulated his sensitive spots. Tom once again trailed kisses down Remy's chest, past his hips and over each of his thighs, before licking up the weeping cock before him. Tom's hands held onto Remy's hips as he tried to buck, He tongued the precom off the slit before taking it into his mouth and moving up and down the shaft.

Remy closed his eyes as Tom took him into his mouth and gasped out, "Ooooohhhhhhh, Gods.....Tom.....mmm......Tom...I'm.....going to.....OH Gods, TOM.

Tom relaxed his throat and swallowed the hot seed that spouted from Remy. He gave the spent cock a few more licks as he felt Remy shudder with aftershocks. Remy felt Tom's hardness against his thigh and pulled him into a deep kiss while stroking the neglected cock to completion. Tom collapsed beside Remy before casting a cleaning charm over each of them, before draping his arms over Remy's waist and just basking in the afterglow. Remy curled into Tom's side, and let the sound of Tom's heartbeat lull him to sleep. Tom feeling Remy's breathing even out, smiled down at the red eyed man, before summoning the sheets to cover them and following his lover into sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own what I own, and nothing more.

_**parseltounge**_

_partial parseltounge_

Tom woke slowly to the pleasant sensation of having a warm body snuggled into his side. He glanced down and smiled to see Remy's head on his chest and an arm encircling his waist. 'Not a dream' he thought to himself as he gently ran his fingers through wavy locks.

Remy slowly woke to the feeling of fingers running through his hair. Something that hadn't happened since he was twelve years old and his Tante had treated him for the flu. "Tom?" he questioned as he opened his eyes and saw Tom smiling down at him.

Tom shook off his thoughts and quietly asked, "How'd you sleep?"

"Good." Remy smiles. "you been awake long?"

"No, only a few minutes." They lapsed into silence each just enjoying the feel of the other holding them, before the outside world made its presence know, with a rumble from Remy's stomach.

Tom chuckled, "I think thats our signal to get out of bed and find some lunch." Tom gave Remy a lingering kiss, before getting out of bed and summoning their clothes from earlier.

As they made their way into the kitchen Remy asked, "Are we going to your home, now that we've rescued those people?"

"Not exactly." Tom replied while he made cold meat sandwiches. "We can't leave here until tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Its complicated." Tom sighed as he handed Remy a plate, "The Weasley we rescued now owes us each a life debt. As such, this means we can demand anything of him that is within his power to give and he would have to comply or die. The goblins also need to punish him to appease the goddess, but are hesitant in doing that as there would be repercussions for punishing a 'hero' of the wizarding world. I will be helping them come up with a way to satisfy the goddess without angering the wizarding population."

"What if I don't want anything from him?" Remy asked, not liking the thought of having that kind of power over another person.

Tom smiled in understanding, "Then I'd suggest having him give you 2million galleons."

"Whats a galleon? And why that many?" Remy asked in confusion.

"A galleon is the largest denomination of wizarding currency. He's a very rich man, to ask for less would be an insult." Tom stated. "2million galleons would be the equivalent of 200million US dollars."

Remy looked at Tom in shock, 'I'd never have to worry about money again.' he thought. 'wait a second if I get a life debt doesn't that mean..'

"Tom, don't I owe you a life debt also?" Remy asked in a shaky voice.

Tom froze, he hadn't thought about that, but it would make sense. "If you do I'll take care of it. I hereby declare any and all life debts owed to me by Remy Etienne Lebeau AKA Gambit shall be null and void." A small swirl of magic lit up the room going from Tom to Remy before it disappeared.

Tom smiled, "There, thats better. You no longer owe me a life debt."

"Why'd you do that? You could have asked for anything."

Tom walked around the table and enfolded Remy into an embrace. "Friends don't do that to each other, more so for lovers. You owe me nothing, even if we don't work out, you would still owe me nothing."

Remy nodded against Tom's shoulder. His whole life people had constantly expected him to repay them in some way for their kindnesses. The thieves guild for adopting him, Sinister for saving his life, and the X-men for giving him a chance. And now, Tom had a chance to make him do anything and he threw it away, saying friends don't do that to each other.

Tom just held Remy close as he waited for him to regain control of his emotions again. When he felt a slight push he relaxed his hold allowing Remy to move away. Remy looked into the bright green eyes of his lover and said, "Thank you, you don't know how much that meant to me."

Tom caught his chin and replied, "Your welcome." then he placed a chaste kiss on those luscious lips. "Now finish your lunch. While I go get something from the other room."

Tom left the kitchen and entered the bedroom, after shutting the door he opened one of his bags from earlier and pulled out a handful of silver sickles, a gold galleon, a huge ruby and several small emeralds. He smiled as he put them all in his pocket before he packed his bag away again. Returning to the kitchen, he saw that Remy had indeed finished eating. "I going to speak with a few goblins, would you like to come along or stay here?" He asked.

"I'll go with you, safer that way." Remy answered jokingly.

"Hmm, don't know about safer. More interesting certainly, safer not necessarily." Tom half joked as he lead the way outside in search of the goblins he most wanted to speak with.

They made their way deeper into the camp where shouts could be heard from cheering goblins around a fenced enclosure. Inside the fenced area Griphook and Leadfoot were stripped to the waist and sparring in a no holds barred brawl. Tom asked the nearest goblin, "Whats this about then?"

The goblin didn't take his eyes off the action as he replied, "Griphook is proving to the youngsters that he hasn't gone soft."

"I see, and why would they think he had?"

"He refused to let us punish the wizards and witches after they disrespected us earlier. Said we should just avoid them until they leave." A loud cheer went up as Griphook finally defeated his opponent. They shook hands, before Sharptooth left the ring, Griphook stood there waiting for anymore challengers. When no one came forward, Griphook also left the circle and went to sit in a chair near the refreshments that had been setup earlier for the fighters.

Tom made his way over to him. "Its been awhile since I've seen you fight like that."

"And I hope that I won't have to do that again for along time, if at all. I'm getting too old for this, Parsel."

"Nonsense, you may be in your early 300s but you fight like a goblin half your age."

Griphook laughed, "You always did know what to say to cheer this old goblin up. So why aren't you two still closeted inside your tent? Don't tell me you wore him out already." he said, looking past Parsel to Gambit.

Gambit heard the goblin and turned beet red while Tom answered, "No, I didn't, and I don't intend to. Can't have a relationship, if you spend all day in the bedroom. You know that."

"Alright, I'll stop teasing. But seriously, why are you out here?"

"I was looking for you and Steelgrip."

"Ah, hes over there," he said as he pointed to tent setup near a portable forge. "Now, before you disappear to speak with him, what did you need me for."

"Just wanted to see how the younger goblins were handling the Weasley situation. Not well, doesn't quite do it justice." Tom stated.

"No, no it doesn't. But it did help to work off some of their anger, even if it was against me."

"Hmm," Tom thought to himself before asking, "If they thought you were going soft, I wonder what they think about me. Perhaps a tournament is in order to see if I still deserve my place as the high champion. What do you think?"

"You make a good point, the young upstarts never saw you in battle before. They only heard about it from their fathers or other elders, more than likely they were expecting you to be a goblin. That you aren't could have been part of the reason for the challenges. Yes a tournament would help settle matters."

"Shall we have it before or after the meeting? I'm thinking before. So no one can refute my participation in the decision making."

"I agree, I will contact Chief Ragnok and tell him of the change in plans. Be ready at dawn, I will spread the word once I receive approval." Griphook told Tom before he left to do just that.

Tom shook his head as he watched him go. "Well, that was interesting." Remy said from behind Tom.

Tom turned his head to look at him, "Told ya it would be."

"So, we're seeing Steelgrip now?"

"Yep, hes a marvel when it comes to metalworking." Tom grinned as they approached the tent.

"Parsel, that you." Said a gruff voice from inside the tent.

"Yes, it is Steelgrip. And I just happen to have a challenge for you."

"A challenge you say. Well lets hear it, haven't had a decent challenge in ages." A broad shouldered, muscular goblin stepped out of the tent. He was taller than the other goblins so far and his Gringotts crest had another superimposed over it, bearing a depiction of a hammer striking a blade over an anvil, signifying his status as a blacksmith.

Tom set the gems and money he had pocketed earlier on a nearby table. He then grabbed some parchment and started to draw when he was done, he handed the drawing to the waiting goblin. Steelgrip looked the drawing over, he then looked at the materials, before nodding his head. "You'll be adding spells to this afterwards?"

"Of course." Tom answered, "Will you do it?"

Steelgrip chuckled, "You know me, I love a challenge. I'll bring it by after its done, should be around nine. Shall I just charge this to your regular account." Tom nodded. "Very well, I shall see you later."

"I shall be waiting." Tom turned to Remy and lead him out of the area.

"What are you having him make?" Remy asked, as his curiosity got the better of him.

"You'll see." As they finished a circuit of the camp, stopping outside their tent Tom looked at his watch. "I can show you something else that he's made for me if you'd like to see it."

"Sure, I'd like to see what he calls a challenge."

"Alright," Tom conjured up some chairs and chess table before saying, "I'll be right back." then ducked into the tent only to return two minutes later carrying a box.

"Here you go, open it."

Remy took the box and opened the lid, he felt his jaw drop as he looked inside. Picking up a solid gold 10" high figurine with emeralds as eyes, and wore a long gold robe that felt and looked like cloth, studded with various other gems making intricate patterns, it also wore a crown, and held a scepter. "That would be the king." Tom stated as he watched Remy admire the piece.

Remy looked from the figure to the chess table Tom had made earlier. "You mean these are your chess pieces." He asked as he looked at another figure this one done in silver.

"That they are, I had Steelgrip make them for me after I was named High Champion. I must say he outdid my expectations." Tom began setting up the pieces as Remy passed them over after he had admired each one. "Which side do you want? Gold or silver?"

"We're going to play with these?" Remy asked uncertain.

"Course beauty without function would be wasteful. Besides thats not all they can do."

"What else can they do?" He asked as he set himself behind the silver figures and moved a pawn.

"Wizards chess pieces have the ability to give advice, move on their own, and attack opposing pieces." Tom stated as he moved his own pawn forward. "I took the basic spells used and modified them."

"Modified them to do what?" Remy asked curiously as he continued playing being very gentle with the pieces.

Tom smirked, "They can do all those things, just not against other pieces. I can have them gather information and report back to me, or become innocent assassins should I ever be captured. Thats part of the reason they were packed with my battle gear. No one would ever suspect the chess pieces, especially since they only respond to my commands."

Remy paused in moving his knight, "You mean these can kill on command."

Tom nodded, "Should there be a need for it, yes. Thankfully, I've never used that command against a real target. Well unless you count rats, had to test it somehow." he explained.

"And what happens if they are somehow stolen?"

"I had Chief Ragnok help me with that. The crest on the bottom of each piece denotes my ownership, it also links them to me so I can find them wherever in the world they might end up. No wards or spells can stop me from knowing the location and once I have it, I am free to take them back. Simple really." Tom smiled. "Checkmate."

Remy looked down at the board and saw that while he had been focusing on Tom's attacking knights and bishops, several pawns had closed ranks and now had him thoroughly beaten. "And I thought I was winning too." He said with an answering smile.

Tom packed up the pieces back into their boxes as the sun started to set. After returning the box back to his bag, he levitated a tray outside, bearing glasses, red wine and a savory fish dinner. He set the tray on the table between them after changing it into a real table. "Not quite a dinner by candlelight, but you really can't beat a sunset in the dessert." Tom said as he poured the wine.

Remy accepted the glass from Tom, "Oui, only way to beat the sunset is with a sunrise, and even then its a toss up." he replied as he relaxed into his chair enjoying the quasi-date they were having. Once the food was gone Tom banished the tray and dishes back to the tent leaving them with only their wine. They linked hands as they watched the stars start to come out.

Remy removed his sunglasses now that they were no longer needed, and smiled at Tom. "Never really watched the stars before, they sure are beautiful."

Remy's breath caught at the sight of Tom's emerald orbs practically glowing with restrained power. He licked his lips as Tom leaned in. "Yeah, beautiful," Tom breathed looking into Remy's ruby eyes, before capturing his lush lips in a gentle kiss. Heated sparks shot through their bodies as their lips moved against each other.

"What do you mean theres no tents left? Don't you know who I am?" Ron's voice rang throughout the camp. Tom and Remy broke apart as the shouting continued.

"Why don't you guys double up and give us two tents so we can sleep already. Its really not that complicated." Hermione reasoned.

"Yeah, well maybe if you three had asked earlier, like Bill did we wouldn't be having this problem. He's already sharing with me, and everyone else has either left or gone to sleep." said an irritated wizard.

"How come others left but we can't?" Ginny asked

"Because they were needed elsewhere. Thats why. Now leave me alone so I can get some sleep as well." He said as he entered his own tent.

"But what about us? You can't just leave us like this. I'll..." Ron shouted

"Shut Up Already!" came a shout from several tents.

"Hey theres Malfoy, we can take his tent." Ron stated as he pointed out a pale figure walking towards the area.

Draco looked up as he heard that, and turned back the way he had come. Ron and the girls seeing him getting away gave chase.

Tom cursed to himself, as he saw the scene play out ending with the start of a chase headed towards their direction. 'Stupid. conceited, irritating, annoying bastards.' Seeing no one else around he decided to put a stop to this before it ended in bloodshed. "Duty calls," he sighed to Remy. "If you'll excuse me." he said standing up.

Remy pouted for a moment before he realized what he was doing and stopped it. "Should I leave?" he asked.

"No, this shouldn't take long then we can go back to enjoying the night together." he said as he cupped Remy's cheek and stole one last kiss before he walked to the edge of the tent's wards.

Draco was running as fast as he could away from the red heads and bookworm, the only problem was he had no where to run to, everyone else was asleep and the goblins wouldn't like to be disturbed for something like this. They'd probably just tell him to fight them off, proving his claim on the tent.

He was almost out of breath when he saw a large tent just up ahead with two people outside it, one sitting the other standing with his arms crossed over his chest, and tapping his foot, like he was waiting for something. Draco ran to the tent and almost jumped back as he recognized who was standing infront of him. "My liege," he gasped out dropping to his knees infront of the imposing figure of Parsel.

Parsel reached out and pulled Draco inside the wards before he released him and turned back to watching the pursuers. "Go sit, and catch your breath, we will speak later." Tom spoke over his shoulder and made a pitcher of ice water and a spare glass appear on the table infront of a new chair.

"Yes, my liege, I thank you, my liege." he managed to say, bowed low and wearily made his way over to the chair and water. He sank into the chair and rapidly drained his first glass of water and had just refilled his glass when he saw red on black eyes watching him.

"You shouldn't drink so fast right after running, especially cold things." Gambit said, remembering that lesson from his street days. "It'll just come right back up, if you try to move too soon."

Draco quickly got over the shock of seeing Gambit's eyes as he heard the thick accent he spoke with. 'The Dark Lord never sounded like this' he thought.

"Thanks, I'll remember that. By the way my name's Draco Black. I believe I saw you earlier when we gave our statements." He said

"I was there, Gambit be my name. Now shh, I want to hear what Parsels going to say to the others." Gambit stated as he saw the red heads finally reach where Parsel was standing.

"Where did Malfoy go?" Ron wheezed looking around.

"There he is," Shouted Ginny before she started towards him, activating the wards, causing them to throw her back several feet. Hermione went to help her to stand back up.

Ron turned purple with rage as he heard Parsel growl out, "I didn't give you permission to enter my domain, you little harlot."

"My sister is not a harlot, now apologize before I beat you to a pulp." Ron shouted

"She propositioned a taken man earlier today, I am almost sure she did so to others as well in her search for lodging. That makes her a not very successful harlot, but a harlot none-the-less. Now, why were you chasing Mr. Black, so mindlessly you ran into my wards?" He asked glaring down at them.

"We wanted to borrow his tent, since they ran out before giving us one." Hermione hurriedly replied before Ron could open his big mouth again.

"Really, thats not what I heard." Tom half turned away from them, "How 'bout you Gambit?"

"Non, not what I heard either." Remy replied with a grin.

Tom turned back to the group, "I heard that you were going to take his tent from him since you didn't make arrangements like you were told earlier. I also heard that you told the tent owners to double up so you could have their tents and not have to share."

"Thats not true, we would never do that. We had Bill find us tents for the night, but apparently there was some confusion and others were called away, so now theres not enough space left. We let Bill share with a friend of his and now we were hoping that Draco would be willing to let bygones be bygones and loan his tent to us." Hermione said lying through her teeth, with her I'm-a-good-girl-and-would-never-break-the-rules face.

"Riiggghhhtt, cause I'm soo going to believe that after this morning." Tom replied sarcastically.

"Why do you care what we want with him anyway, its just a Malfoy?" Ron sneered

"His name is Black, the fact that you interrupted my evening with your shouting and running is more than enough reason for me to care. Now I suggest you find somewhere to bunk for the night, preferably far from here." Tom said as he turned and started walking back to his seat.

"Hey come back here, I wasn't done talking to you." Ron shouted, as he tried to move closer and got shocked for his trouble, "Ouch, fucking wards."

"Did that hurt?" Tom questioned from where he was sitting comfortably next to Remy again.

"Yeah it hurt you bastard," was the answer he got.

He smirked as he took a sip of wine, "Then I suggest you don't do that again." he called back, causing Remy to laugh next to him.

"You'll pay for this, you hear, I'll tell the papers about what you've done to me." Ron yelled.

"Is there a problem here?" Came a gruff voice from behind the trio.

"Yeah theres a problem, his wards keep shocking us when we try to enter." Ron complained to the goblin behind him.

"Wasn't asking you human." The goblin sneered at Ron.

"Steelgrip that you? Done already my friend?" Tom asked as he allowed the goblin entrance. "And theres no problem, those three are just looking for a place to spend the night. Do you perhaps have an idea where they could possibly stay?" He asked, giving the goblin a feral grin.

Seeing the grin, Steelgrip gave one in return before replying, "Of course Parsel. Why they didn't bring this to us sooner I have no idea." Tom handed his glass of wine to the goblin who drained it before turning it into a portkey. Walking over to the three outside the wards he said, "Now, here you go, this will take you to a place where you can spend the night in the comfort you deserve."

Ron and Ginny immediately grabbed the glass, Hermione took a few seconds longer, not really liking how Parsel and the goblin were grinning at them. Once she had touched the glass, the goblin said, "Enjoy." causing the portkey to activate.

Tom and Steelgrip, looked at one another and burst out in laughter, till tears came out of their eyes. "Oh man, Steelgrip, that was too easy. The comfort they deserve, truly magnificent."

"I never said the comfort they think they deserve now did I." the goblin cackled.

Tom conjured up another chair Steelgrip, and waited for him to sit, before he asked, "Where'd you send them?"

"They are in the Gringotts Egyptian branch's holding cell for thieves. I had the glass made unbreakable and etched with instructions for the goblins on duty to return them tomorrow after the meeting was finished."

As Gambit and Draco heard the explanation they let out their own set of chuckles. "Well it seems that your problem is resolved, Mr. Black, you may return to your tent now." Tom said as he turned to look at the blond. "And next time, should something like this happen, go to the goblins. You are a Gringotts employee, they will help you."

"But I'm not a full employee yet."

"Doesn't matter, the ones chasing you were not even trainees. Your word is taken into account more than theirs since lying to your superiors is a punishable crime which is why Mr. Weasley gave his statement as he did earlier. Neither lying nor placing blame on any one person." Tom turned to Steelgrip. "Am I right in saying that the goblins would have helped Mr. Black, here with those fools had he turned to them first?"

"Of course you are Parsel." Steelgrip answered turning to Draco, "When you signed your contract, it wasn't just saying you would do those certain tasks to become a full employee. It was also a binding contract making sure you would uphold our laws and ideals. As such it requires us to make sure you are provided for if you are in need. Hence your rescue."

"What do you mean? I thought everyone came to rescue Weasley." Draco asked in confusion.

Tom laughed, "We didn't even know he was in there until after I had been called in. No, I came to rescue a Gringotts employee from a tomb. Not a trainee, and definitely not a Weasley. All this," Tom gestured towards the encampment, "Was called in to help you, as your contract dictates. Now its late, I suggest you get some sleep Mr. Black." Tom said in a clear dismissal.

Draco stopped himself from asking anymore questions when he heard the dismissal, and remembered just who's presence he was in. He stood from his chair, and bowed low saying, "I thank you again for your allowing me sanctuary my liege." Bowing to Gambit and Steelgrip also just to be on the safe side, he continued, "I thank you as well, my lords." Then he stood and left the wards at a quick pace back to his tent.

"Well, thats a new one. A wizard addressing a goblin as my lord. Makes you feel good doesn't it Steelgrip." Tom asked the stunned goblin.

"Hmm, yes. I will be sure to add that to his reports, we send to Griphook." Steelgrip agreed before he recovered himself. "Now that thats done, I can give you what I came here for." Steelgrip took out a small box. "I trust this meets with your expectations."

Tom took the box from Steelgrip and opened it to reveal a multitude of silk inside. Unwrapping the silk revealed the marvel inside. "Its truly magnificent, once again you have exceeded my expectations, my friend. I really must send you more challenges to create for me Steelgrip."

The goblin nodded at the compliments and said, "See that you do, Parsel. But now I must bid you goodnight, so I can rest before the tournament tomorrow. I look forward to taking you on again." He laughed as he left the wards.

Tom just shook his head at the laughing goblin before he turned to Remy. "_**Remy**_, come see, and tell me what you think." he said.

Remy moved closer to the object that Tom held in his hand. It took his breath away as he saw the detailing on the pendant. It was 2inches tall and an inch wide, scale model of an ace of hearts playing card, only the heart was done with a ruby and had a depiction of a cobra, with emeralds as eyes, encircling the heart with its fangs barred protecting it. The corners that would hold small As and hearts, now had gold parselscript that read Tom and Remy in one corner and Parsel and Gambit in the other corner. The entire card and chain was made of pure silver. Turning the card over Remy saw Tom's symbol of ownership done in gold and some smaller runes that he didn't recognize. "Its beautiful, Tom." Remy breathed.

"I'm glad you like it," Tom said as he stood up and finished adding spells to the piece. He walked around Remy and clasped the necklace in place, "Because its yours now."

Remy felt a warmth spread from where the necklace now rested against his skin, and spread to encompass his entire body before returning to the pendant. "What did it just do?"

"It just recognized you as its owner." Tom explained.

"But it has your symbol on it."

"Yes it does. But thats only so I can find you should you ever need me and I'm not there. It won't allow anyone else to take it from you and will give them a nasty shock should they attempt to try. It won't rust, tarnish, or break so theres no need for you to remove it. It also can provide you with your weapon of choice. Just touch the card and think of how many you need and they will appear in your hand full size, though they will all resemble your pendant. It will never run out, so you will always be protected. The last thing is that it can heal you of many minor wounds or a few heavy wounds, before it will need to recharge its magic. Of course if your being wounded, then I will soon be there and you shouldn't need to worry about it having to recharge." Tom explained to a stunned Cajun.

Remy sat there and listened to all the things the gift that Tom had just given him could do. 'He had it made for me, and then made it so I will always have protection, and be able to heal myself until he can come to get me.' Remy cleared his throat and asked, "Why are you giving me this?"

"I protect what is mine. And you are that, my friend, my lover, mine. Even should you stop being my lover, you would still be my friend and still be mine to protect." Tom stated with conviction.

Remy stood and gave Tom a deep kiss that he eagerly returned. "_Mine_." Tom hissed when the kiss ended.

"Mm, yours." Remy breathed as Tom trailed a line of fire down his neck. Tom held him closer and sucked on his joint between the neck and shoulder leaving another mark of ownership. Remy gasped out at the sensation of being marked. "Tom, we should go inside before, I let you take me right here."

Tom vanished the chairs and table, and banished the box to his bag with a negligent wave of his hand before he captured Remy's lips again and sought entrance with his tongue and apparated them into the bedroom. He laid Remy down on the bed before removing their clothes with magic. He gazed down at his lovers body and breathed out, "_Mine."_

Remy shivered at the smoldering gaze Tom was giving him and the intensity of his tone as he said 'mine', "Yours,"

Tom set out to claim every inch of that gorgeous body with his kisses eliciting moans and gasps from Remy as he reached sensitive spots. He made mental notes to come back to those places once he was finished mapping the rest of his body. "Gods...yes...Tom ...Mmm..please Tom." Remy panted as he withered and wreathed on the bed as Tom worshiped his body with his hands and mouth. Tom took Remy's leaking cock into his mouth and swirled his tongue as he moved his head up and down the shaft.

"Gods...Yes...Tom...." Remy came with a shout as Tom deep throated him and hummed sending vibrations throughout his cock. "TOM"

Tom swallowed everything Remy gave him and gave the spent member a few more licks to make sure he didn't miss anything. Once finished he began trailing kisses back up Remy's chest to his neck and breathed into his ear, "_Turn over_,"

Remy stiffened at the request as he still felt Toms hardness against his side. "_Trust me, __**Remy."**_ Remy nodded and turned onto his stomach. He tensed when he first felt Tom's mouth on his shoulder blades but started to relax as he noticed that Tom was being very careful to keep his leaking erection from touching his back. Tom trailed fiery kisses over his back, down his spine and placed a few on his cheeks before continuing down his thighs, under his kneecaps and he nibbled on his calf. After he had finished with the first leg he made his way back up the other. All the attention Tom was paying to his body was making Remy hard again and he groaned as he realized that fact.

Tom used Remy's momentary distraction to breath over his entrance eliciting a gasp from his sensitive lover, "Tom?"

"_Trust me,_" Tom breathed as he flickered out his tongue and gave it a lick. He circled his tongue around the entrance, he slowly entered the tight place causing Remy to moan at the sensation. He carefully maneuvered his tongue in and out slowly before speeding up as Remy's moans became louder and he started moving with him.

'oh, gods, thats his tongue' Remy thought as felt Tom lick his entrance, "Mmm...gods..." Remy hardened even more as Tom moved his tongue inside him. He pushed back wanted to feel more of that talented muscle inside of him. "Tom.. Oh ...Gods....Tom," Tom moved faster as he felt Remy's leg rubbing against his neglected cock. He reached around to Remy's front and moved his hand down Remy's cock in time with his thrusting tongue. The combination of sensations sent Remy into overload and he came hard, screaming out, "OH GODS, YES TOM" Hearing Remy scream in ecstasy and feeling Remy's muscles contract against his tongue as he came, sent him over the edge as well.

Tom cast cleaning charms over them as he made his way to lie beside his exhausted lover. He brought him into his arms and spooned him from behind, and kissed his neck. "Mine."

"Yours, Tom, All yours." Remy breathed as he tried to stay awake a little longer.

"Sleep, _**Remy." **_Tom whispered into his ear as he watched the ruby eyes flutter closed. He tightened his hold for a second before having the blankets cover them and following him into sleep.

Tom woke an hour before dawn and very carefully removed himself from the bed and his sleeping lover. He got dressed in form fitting doeskin leather pants, matching doeskin boots, and had a long brown cloak draped over one his shoulders. It had the Gringotts crest over the left breast, along with the symbol of a high champion, on the back his personal crest, of a coiled cobra with hood flared, fangs barred waiting to strike. _**"Embrace your darkness, and live forevermore in the Grey."**_ was written below in emerald green parselscript.

Remy woke slowly as he heard Tom moving around the room dressing, "Tom? You going somewhere?"

"Yes, _**Remy, **_I'm heading over to the fighters area so I can defend my title of high champion to the goblins. You can go back to sleep if you want, it'll take a few hours." Tom stated.

"And miss seeing you defeat someone other than me, I don't think so." Remy replied as he quickly got out of bed and started looking around for clothes to wear.

Tom chuckled as he watched Remy, move around the tent trying to hurry. He walked behind his lover and handed him a similar outfit to his own except instead of a cloak he was given a doeskin tunic. Once they were both dressed they made their way to the fighter's area, where all the goblins were gathered around several richly dressed, elder goblins. The human workers had also arrived at the area to see what all the commotion was about.

"So, my young workers. You want to test the might of our High Champion." Ragnok stated to the eager fighters lining inside the fenced off arena. "You think we have chosen wrongly in our choosing of a wizard. So be it, and may he have mercy on your lives."

Ragnok spotted Parsel headed his way and grinned, "Parsel, are you ready for this?"

"Always, Chief Ragnok." Tom answered as he knelt before the chief.

Ragnok looked behind Parsel to where Gambit stood outside the crowd of eager goblins. "would that be your partner over there Parsel."

"Yes, Chief Ragnok, his name is Gambit. He will be watching the tournament as he wants to see me defeat someone other than him." Tom said with a slight grin.

"Interesting, he will sit with me, as we watch the proceedings." Ragnok declared.

"As you wish." Tom stated before he went over to Gambit and lead him to the chairs reserved for the Chief and other elders.

"Chief Ragnok, honored elders. I present to you my mate, Gambit." Tom stated formally.

"Very good, Parsel you may leave." Ragnok said in dismissal as he motioned the others to sit.

Tom removed his cloak and handed it to Remy, gave him a last searing kiss gaining whistles from the goblins and humans alike. Breaking the kiss, he winked at Remy and went to his starting area to await the first challenger. Remy sank into his seat, as he watched Tom enter the arena.

"Alright you lot settle down, All challengers to the arena. Remember no magic and only the weapons already inside the arena will be used. All yields will be honored, let there be no deaths in this tournament. Begin." Ragnok's voice boomed over the crowd.

Tom stood in the center of the field, within easy reach of weapons but still far enough away not to trip over them, as he waited for the attack. He would be taking on single challengers mostly the youngsters to start with. Then as they wore themselves out the more experienced warriors like Steelgrip and Griphook would enter the arena in groups anywhere from 2-25 goblins at once. He tried not to stop his smile as his excitement grew at the thought of battle again.

A young gangly goblin made his way into the arena, he couldn't be out of his 20s yet, barely into warrior training. Tom didn't even bother with a weapon he simply waited for the goblin to rush him and stepped to the side with his leg sticking out effectively tripping him causing him to hit his head with the pommel of his sword knocking him out. Tom went back to his starting place after checking for a pulse and giving the ok sign to crowd who carried him out.

The next three matches only lasted a little longer with Tom evading the wild movements of the youngsters until they tripped themselves up and he knocked them out or disarming them himself and putting his blade to their throats.

The next group decided to work together, only they obviously didn't know how yet. They were spaced out a little too far to help each other but close enough that they would get in each others way should Tom rush one of them. To say that Tom was toying with them would be an understatement. He would rush a group and when they got tangled up he disarmed them and threw the swords they carried behind him, making them stick upright in the sand blocking the others that wanted to take a chance at his unprotected backside. He tagged all the ones on the ground symbolizing kills before he turned his attention to the other three. Two had knocked themselves out running into the blades. He jumped over the swords in the sand landed behind them and banged their heads together.

Remy watched on from his place next to the Chief. He could hear him grumbling about the foolishness of youth as they made stupid mistake after stupid mistake. The younger goblins had all been defeated and it hadn't even been an hour yet, and Tom smile only grew as the he waited for the last challengers, a group of 25 elder goblins, with Steelgrip and Griphook in the lead.

"Now we will see a fight." said Ragnok, as he elbowed Gambit in the ribs. "But you haven't seen Parsel in a battle rage before. This will only be a taste." he continued as the goblins gave a war cry and Tom only crouched down in a fighting stance holding a sword in each hand, his smiling face frightening the watching wizards and few of the younger goblins that had previously been in the arena.

"Lets dance," Tom stated to the rushing goblins as he parried their thrusts, evading blows from behind. Dodge, parry, thrust, lunge, punch, smash, kick,duck, roll, swipe, disarm, accept yield, repeat. The dance went on for hours as Tom focused his energy on each opponent individually and regulated the others to distractions to be avoided until target was destroyed. A lucky shot would occasionally make it through his defense but he just shrugged it off and fought faster and harder, his smile never wavering and his emerald eyes blazing with amusement and power.

"Now thats what I'm talking about, Show 'em what it means to be High Champion, Parsel." Ragnok shouted out over the cheering crowd.

Remy saw Tom taking the blows and shrugging them off, even when a few were deep enough to bleed and would need stitches later. 'Hes the only one pulling his blows' he realized as a particularly vicious swipe barely missed decapitating Tom.

Tom quickly disarmed and dispatched the next two goblins after that close call. Finally only Steelgrip was left. "You ready for me, Parsel."

"Bring it on, old friend. You gonna make me another chess set after I win again?" Tom taunted.

Their blades rang loudly as they clashed together in a flurry of blows from Steelgrip. "Aye, you win I'll make them for you. What would you like them made out of this time?"

"Same materials, I've a few more designs that should pique your interest that I'll be sending you in a few days." Tom called out as he went on the attack.

"Agreed." After that neither spoke anymore saving their breath for the fight as the blows got heavier and the deadly dance of steel on steel sped up until all you saw was a blur of motion. Tom switched hands in the middle of the fight and became even deadlier. He managed to disarm the goblin and had his sword tagging his chest not five minutes later.

"Damn it, Parsel. That left hand trick still got me." Steelgrip growled out.

Tom laughed and helped the goblin up, "Had to give them a good show, had I started off with my right hand the tournament would have been over before it could even start." Steelgrip laughed with him as they made their way out of the arena.

Chief Ragnok stood up and cheerfully stated to the waiting crowd, "Once again, we have been blessed to witness a true warrior fight. Parsel, has once again proven his place amongst us as our High Champion. I for one am proud to call him brother." A loud cheer went up from the goblins as they accepted Parsel as one of their own.

"Your praise means much to me, my chief. I will be sure to uphold your high standards as my station dictates." Parsel stated formally, bowing low.

Ragnok motioned him to stand and turned him to face the crowd again, "Let the name Parsel and this battle be spoken about for many a night to come. Now that the fun is over we must all get back to work. Dismissed." he commanded. The watching wizards and healed goblins left quickly after that. Tom healed his cuts and scrapes and dumped an ice cold bucket of water over his head to wash away his blood and calm his battle rage before he accepted his cloak back from Remy.

Remy watched as Tom dumped the water over his head and shivered as he realized how cold it must have been. He then swallowed hard as the already tight leather clothes became even tighter when wet. He handed Tom his cloak back and watched as he clasped it over one shoulder leaving most of his chest exposed.

Tom then tied his long wet hair back with a leather thong before he glanced around making sure most of the others were gone before he grabbed Remy pulling him flush against his body and kissing him soundly. Remy let out a moan at the ferocity behind the kiss as Tom claimed his mouth with his tongue and sucked on his lower lip. "Parsel, we have a meeting now." Ragnok spoke sticking his head out of the meeting tent.

Tom broke off the kiss and let out a loud growl, his eyes giving a warning as he sought out the source of the interruption. Seeing Chief Ragnok waiting he bit out, "Be right there." The chief nodded and reentered the tent. "Lets get this over with." Tom sighed as he lead Remy inside the tent.

"Alright, I've looked over the bastard's list of assets. He has a home equipped with a professional q_uidditch_ pitch, where he trains the team he owns called 'Ron's Rockets', of which he plays keeper and kicks everyone who tries to give him pointers off the team. He also has approximately 8.5million galleons left to his name." Tom explained to the listening goblins.

Gambit has agreed to accept 2million galleons as his life debt. I will use my life debt to issue part of his punishment, by taking his team and kicking him off it, renaming it and having my old friend Victor Krum brought in as Co-owner, just to piss him off. I'll also take a million galleons to make all the changes I just said. That leaves him with 5.5mil. Now I suggest that you take 3mill as cost for yourself and then as a final punishment we will have him build a monument to the goddess Wadjet with his remaining money. The only one he can be mad at is me and I don't intend to see him or his family again anytime soon after this. And should he try something, well, I'm not High Champion for nothing. What says the council?"

The goblins looked from one to the other nodding their heads in agreement. Chief Ragnok spoke up, "The council accepts your proposal. It is sound, and should he not make an appropriate monument the goddess will punish him herself. Now where are the miscreants, that have been causing so much dissension through our ranks."

Tom smirked as Remy fought back a smile as he remembered what had happened last night. "They will be here soon. I'm sorry to say that they had to be relocated do to a lack of lodging last night."

"And where, pray tell, have they been relocated to?" One of the elders asked.

"Gringotts Egyptian Branch's holding cell for thieves." Tom stated with a straight face. "For details, I suggest you ask, Mr. Black, Steelgrip, and the wizard whos tent William Weasley shared last night."

"So we shall, but first let us get this over with. I know your itching to leave, heres your keys by the way. Your jeep is parked just outside the encampment." Ragnok said as he tossed a key ring at Tom.

Tom caught the key ring out of the air and placed them on his belt loop. He took a hold of Remy's hand and followed the council to where the punishment would be administered. "Don't they ever shut up?" Tom heard Remy mutter under his breath, as a loud shout was heard from the direction they were heading towards.

"Where's that bastard Parsel, hiding? He's going to be arrested as soon as the aurors get here." Ron shouted.

"Looking for me?" Tom said as he approached the group. "And just what, may I ask will you be having me arrested for?"

"Slander, assault, and unlawful detainment." Ron smirked trying to look intimidating, as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Really, is that all. I must be losing my touch." Tom responded coolly making the nearby goblins chuckle. "Well, where are they then? We don't have all day and the more witnesses we have as your punishment is handed out the better."

"What punishment, you're supposed to be punishing Malfoy." Hermione questioned.

"Now why would we do that, hes done nothing wrong and the goddess has already passed judgment over him and found him innocent of any crimes. And for the last time his name is Black, Malfoy is dead and gone. Try to remember that this time." Tom replied trying to reign in his temper. He produced a piece of parchment and wrote out what Remy was to say when his turn was announced.

"Chief Ragnok if you could begin passing judgment." Tom said in a strained voice.

Ragnok took one look at his tense stance and began, "The punishment as carried out by the Gringotts goblins, of Mr. Ronald Weasley is as follows, he shall make a monument devoted to the goddess Wadjet to appease her wrath."

"Thats it build a monument I can have one of those built any day I wanted." Ron boasted.

Gambit spoke up from his place beside Parsel. "I, Gambit, hereby do call in my life debt owed by one Ronald Bilius Weasley, to be paid with 2million galleons. So mote it be."

Ron's face showed shock as a swirl of magic went from Gambit to him and he quickly took out his Gringotts checkbook and wrote out a note for 2million galleons and handed it over to Gambit. Gambit took the note and handed it back to Griphook who had also received a note from Parsel telling him what to do with the check when Remy handed it to him.

"If thats all then we'll..." Hermione began but was cut off as Parsel shook his head.

"I, Parsel, hereby do call in my life debt owe by one Ronald Bilius Weasley, to paid with the quidditch team 'Ron's Rockets', and 4million galleons. So mote it be." Parsel said with barely concealed humor.

"But," Ron started to say as he, once again made out a check and searched his pockets for the deed to his team that he kept on him as a matter of pride. Finding it he signed over ownership and handed both items over to Parsel.

Parsel signed the deed claiming ownership, and continued, "Ronald Weasley, you are hereby removed from the team." He then handed the documents over to Griphook with a note to contact Krum about the team. "Now, you may leave. Unless you still wanted to await the aurors to arrest me?"

Just as Parsel finished speaking two aurors portkeyed in. Looking around the older of the two said, "We're here to arrest one Parsel on the word of Ronald Weasley, war hero, for slander, assault, and unlawful detainment."

"Ah, there they are late as always." Parsel whispered to Remy, as Ron tried to regain his dignity and drew the aurors attention to him.

"There he is, the one in the cloak, by the goblins." Ron said pointing in Parsel's direction. Parsel just gave a little wave and continued talking to Griphook about the arrangements he needed made for the team and where he could be reached.

The aurors started to make their way towards him only to be met by a multitude of spear points. They swallowed and backed up a step, hoping the goblins would lower their weapons. "Um, Parsel, You are under arrest, come quietly or we will have no choice but to use force." The younger of the two called out.

Parsel raised an eyebrow and stood up straight causing his crest on his cloak to catch the wizards attention. "Alright, I'll go with you so long as you arrest those three, for corruption of justice, attempted theft, battery, slander, trespassing." Tom stated as he made his way forward, the goblins parting before him. "Do we have a deal?"

"I'll make it easy for you, they drop the charges and I drop mine." Tom stated slowly, unnerving them with his hard green eyes.

Tom saw movement from behind the aurors, but dismissed it as the trio trying to think of a plan to get out of their predicament. That is until he heard a grunt from behind him and turned to see Remy start to fall. Tom caught him before he hit the ground and saw large red slashes on his arms and across his chest. The pendent started closing the wounds at once, Tom let out a loud growl in anger that someone dared to harm his lover.

"Who threw that curse?" Tom angrily growled out. He stood and pushed past the dumbfounded aurors to face the trio. "Who dared to cast Sectumsempra?" Tom stated again in a lethal whisper, his canines elongated, a drop of poison leaking from the tip of one fell to the sand with a hiss.

He saw Ginny hastily putting her wand back into her holster and pounced, gripping her by the throat and lifting her a foot off the ground. "Dark Magic, from a celebrated hero's sister. This will make a lovely story for the papers. I should kill you now, for daring to harm what is mine, and infront of the aurors no less. Just what were you thinking? That you would get away with it in front of all these witnesses. Or was I your real target and you were going to obliviate everyone else after I was killed. Well was that it?"

Ginny looked into Tom's furious face, the elongated canines still dripping a hideous green venom and what terrified her the most were his green eyes blazing in anger. "If he had shielded he would have been fine. Its not my fault he didn't block."

"He didn't shield, because he can't you Bitch. He's not a wizard." Tom growled out as he increased the pressure on her throat.

"Then whats the big deal its just a muggle, he shouldn't even be here." Came the voice of Ron and Hermione from behind him as they tried to break his grip on Ginny.

"Just a muggle, JUST A MUGGLE. This from the Hero's of the wizarding world. You almost kill a man for no reason, and your defense is its JUST A MUGGLE." Tom shouted as he threw the three away from him. "aurors take them away, NOW. Before I lose the rest of my temper and kill them. Send her to Azkaban for attempted murder, and the others for the charges I stated earlier."

"Who are we to list as the plaintiff?"

"High Champion Parsel of the Gringotts goblins. On behalf of my mate, Gambit, brother to Queen Ororo of Kenya." Tom stated to the stunned aurors.

Remy had recovered from his wounds with the help of the pendent, and made his way over to Parsel as he heard him tell the official looking wizards who he was, "You didn't have to give them my title, Parsel." He groaned half heartedly.

"Not your full title anyway." Tom said as he made his way over to where Remy stood and checked him over. "You shouldn't be walking so soon. Sit." He said as he conjured a chair.

"Yes, dear." Remy joked as he sat in the chair stifling a brief groan of pain.

Tom still heard it and summoned a pain reliever and healing potion from his tent. He handed them to Remy as soon as he caught them. "Drink these, then you can have some whiskey to wash them down." He said conjuring up two glasses and taking a bottle from Sharptooth who had rushed away to get some when he saw Gambit be injured.

Turning back to the others Tom growled, "Well what are you waiting for? Get a move on. We will be sending a solicitors pensive holding our memories of our dealings with these three, as will the others present here. So the trial can run smoothly. We won't be at attending the trial but a proxy will be. Don't let us be disappointed."

The aurors hurried to comply and had the trio bound with magic suppressing cuffs and their wands confiscated before portkeying them away. "We shall see that everything is done as you said, Parsel." Chief Ragnok stated, looking apologetic that this had happened.

"They will serve full sentences, no leniency. Mr. Black, I grant you Head of House status to the House of Black, Don't disappoint me. You will be serving as proxy for the trial. Uphold the our ideals and I shall increase your vault access. Griphook, the papers and ring if you would."

"Right away, Parsel." Griphook fumbled in his pocket for a moment before he took out the appropriate document and ring along with a self inking quill. "Here you are."

Tom took the paper and filled in the correct information that was needed and handed it and the quill over to Draco. "Just sign and the ring is yours."

Draco took the quill and with a shaking hand signed the form, handing back to Griphook he accepted the ring from Parsel. "Make us proud, Lord Black." Tom said.

"I will strive to, my liege." Draco replied as he bowed low as Tom and Remy accepted their packs from Leadfoot and the other goblins and started walking to his new jeep.

"Midsummer, we'll have a hunt on my isle. Ragnok you know which one." Parsel called back as he got into the driver side of his jeep, with Remy safely ensconced beside him.

"Indeed, I do Parsel, we'll see you there. Even if I have to close the bank for the day." Chief Ragnok replied causing Tom to laugh as he drove away.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own what I own and don't what I don't.

A/N: Moving, so updates will be sporadic at best until I get stable internet again. Most likely after the new year. Enjoy. P.S. thanks for the translations Ratchadwi, and Teufelkind.

_**Parseltounge**_

_partial parseltounge_

French translation

As Tom drove away from the camp site, he picked up the car phone and dialed in a number with a huge grin on his face. "Egyptian Ministry of Magic, how can I direct your call?" asked a chipper female voice.

"Connect me to Head Auror Neville Longbottom's office." Tom stated.

"Who may I say is calling?"

"Tell him its, Tom."

"One moment please."

"This is Head Auror Longbottom. How may I help you?" asked a curious, deep male voice.

"Hello Oleander, Its been a long time." Tom said with a grin.

"Parsel, is that really you?" Neville asked, as he recognized the voice on the phone, as one of the people he had trained with during the war, on Harry's insistence. The training had saved his and his wife's life, several times. The last he'd seen or heard from him, had been at Harry's will reading where Parsel had accepted the responsibility of Harry's vast assets and voting rights. Neville broke out of his memories, as he recalled that Parsel rarely did chit chat. "I take it this isn't a social call."

"Ah, you wound me."

"As if anyone could do that. What do you need?"

"Alright, I just had a run in with some British aurors at a Gringotts encampment here in Egypt. Apparently they wanted to charge me with slander, assault, and unlawful detainment, on the word of Ronald Weasley."

"Weasley, now you've got my attention. Give me a rundown." Neville stated as he got out a dict-o-quill, and fresh parchment to record the rest of the conversation.

"Pensive memories will be sent to your office sometime within the next hour. But, the gist is I did nothing wrong as the memories will verify. Yes, I called his sister a harlot, but she had tried to flirt with my mate. As for assault, he shouldn't be trying to cross my wards without permission, in an effort to steal from my vassal, now named Lord Black. So really, the detainment was completely within the scope of goblin law."

"Okay, that covers the first part now tell me what happened after the aurors arrived."

"As they had no authority, on either Egyptian soil or a Goblin encampment, I set out to make a deal with them. They drop the charges and I wouldn't bring charges against them. They were considering it when that Bitch shot a Sectumsempra at my direction. She hit my mate who wasn't far behind me, had I not given him a healing pendant the night before he would be dead now." Tom stated as he put a hand on Gambit's thigh, and gave it a comforting squeeze as he saw him flinch at the reminder of what could have happened.

"Tell me you didn't kill her."

"I wouldn't be calling you if I had. She might have some trouble talking for a few days, but nothing major. Considering she tried to blame my mates, getting hurt on him not shielding, I would say I held my temper very well. When I replied that my mate wasn't a wizard and therefore couldn't shield, Ron and his bitch Granger tried to pull me off back saying that 'its only a muggle so what did it matter. I proceeded to throw them off me and had the British aurors take them away on charges for corruption of justice, attempted theft, battery, slander, trespassing, and of course attempted murder for Ginevra. They confiscated their wands, slapped on magic inhibitors and took them away. I'm sending Lord Black as my proxy to the trial."

"Do they know, who you are?"

"Unfortunately, I let my temper get the better of me and I gave my title of High Champion Parsel of the Gringotts goblins, and my mate as the brother to Queen Ororo of Kenya. Chief Ragnok said he would take care of things on the goblin end. I have Lord Black as my representative for the British wizards, that just leaves you to make up for the aurors breach of authority. You up for it?"

Neville thought for a second, before replying, "Help out an old friend, and former commander, while taking down Harry's betrayers and the British MoM, a couple of pegs. Sounds like fun, I'm in."

"Glad to hear it, after you view the memories, feel free to slap on any additional charges I may have forgotten. Give me a call, if you need anything." Tom said as he prepared to end the call.

Neville spoke quickly, "Not so fast. Eclipse would kill me if I didn't try and invite you and your mate over for dinner. So tomorrow night, 7ish?"

Tom frowned at the phone, and replied, "I'll think about it, by the way congrats on becoming a new father."

"What do you mean, Luna's not .." Neville trailed off as a magical airplane landed on his desk. He quickly read it 'The snorklacks inform me I'm pregnant. Hannah insists I go out with the girls to celebrate. See you at 10. Luna.' and said, "How do you do that?" all he heard was laughter, before the line went dead. Neville sat back in his chair for a moment, as the news fully hit him. A huge grin spread across his face as set to work on Parsel's case.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Remy sat in the passenger seat, lost in thought as he heard Tom talk to someone on the phone. He flinched when Tom said he would have been killed had it not been for his pendant. He felt Tom give his thigh a comforting squeeze, before he went back to his conversation. Remy heard Tom bringing the call to a close and looked over to see Tom frown, before his eyes gained a mischievous glint and he congratulated the person on becoming a father, before laughing as he clicked off the phone.

Tom gave Remy a smile as he stopped laughing, "You okay?"

"I think so." Remy replied, before asking, "Would I really have died without this pendant?"

Tom's smile faltered and his eyes grew dim, as he replied, "Yes. The spell she used could very easily have beheaded you. The shields around the pendant protected you from that fate, but they only cover a set area, thats why you were still hit."

"Is there a way to shield the rest of me?"

"I could place spells on all of your clothing, but that would still leave you vulnerable when you take them off."

"Why don't your clothes have those spells on them?" Remy asked curiously.

"Generally my clothes do, just not these. Remember, we were told no magic during the tournament. That meant on my clothes as well, I used the outfit you're wearing the first time I was made High Champion. I believe I was 14 when that happened."

"Wait, you fought in a tournament when you were only 14, and won."

"To outside the world I was 14, but to the goblins I had just turned, 24." Tom stated indifferently.

"How can you be 14 and 24 at the same time?" Remy asked incredulously.

Tom sighed as he tried to explain, "I had just finished my second year at Hogwarts. I arranged to meet with the goblins and struck a deal with them. They would give me 10years worth of training, in exchange for a sizable chunk of my gold. At the end of that time, I would be tested. I win, I would become High Champion and part of the clan. I lose, and the training stops. They took me to a room where time worked differently, for every hour that passed in real time, a day would pass in the room. I would train there during summer hols, that was about 80 days every year."

"Why would they have a room like that in the first place?"

Tom chuckled, "Ever hear the expression 'Time is money.' I'm almost positive that phrase originated amongst the goblins. Negotiations and other disputes take place in rooms like that,so they can continue with business and get it resolved before the outside world ever knows there was a dispute in the first place."

"So what do you do as their High Champion?"

"I do a bit of everything. Hence why I was called in to take care of the rescue, they couldn't do it themselves but still needed to get their man out. I advise the goblins of new technologies available to the muggles, so they can keep on top of the market in the wizarding world. I could also be called upon to represent the clan amongst the wizards or muggle counterparts, anywhere that a goblin would be thought of as inferior and a human face would be more welcome. I rank just under the chief in terms of power within the clan, so an attack on me, or rather you in this case could be used as an excuse to start a rebellion and take over the wizarding world. But, since wars are bad for business, they will just settle for having the perpetrators sentenced to the maximum extent of the combined laws."

"And what would that be?"

"If they're lucky a few life sentences shoveling dragon dung at a remote colony in Siberia or if not so lucky the dementer's kiss, which is the equivalent of having your soul sucked out through your mouth leaving the body behind an empty shell."

"Wouldn't execution be better than having your soul sucked out?" Remy asked, shocked that a government could be that cruel.

Tom nodded, "It would be, but thats not the way the British MoM works. There is only one prison there, and it is guarded by the dementer's making the prisoners relive their worst memories over and over again until they go insane. To those people the kiss is more of a mercy than the horrors of their own minds."

"Wait, if you had been arrested, you would have gone there?" Tom just nodded his head as pulled the jeep into a parking lot. "But thats barbaric." Remy stated in disgust.

"Thats the world I belonged to in my last life. They tried to send me there when I was fifteen for defending myself and my muggle cousin against the dementers, because I had used magic infront of a him."

"But how could they do that if you were already High Champion."

"Thats the thing, they don't know about that, they were sentencing their savior, a fifteen year old boy with only four years of standard training. Not a ranking member of a goblin clan that had been training for over a decade. Had I been sentenced, my body would have been duplicated like we did to yours and that would have taken my place in prison. While I would have been spirited away to live with my clan, leaving the wizarding world to fix their own damn mess. Almost would have preferred that to happen, but it would have meant a lot more deaths on my conscience."

Remy looked out the window as Tom turned off the car, and asked, "Where are we?"

"Cairo, shopping district. I figured we could get some lunch here and just make a day of it, before heading to the house. If you're up for it of course." Tom said.

"Sounds like fun, but shouldn't we change first?" Remy asked as he gestured to their leather outfits and Tom's shirtless chest.

Tom smiled in amusement, "If you insist." Tom stated as he reached into his pack and touched yesterday's cotton outfits and muttered a switching spell. "There, now we're both dressed."

"You'd think I'd be used to that by now." Remy muttered as he got out of the jeep, with Tom.

"I've lived with it most of my life and am still not entirely used to it." Tom told him as they made their way through the bazaar, stopping every now and again when something from a shop caught their eye. As the sun got higher in the sky, Tom was able to get a recommendation for a place to eat nearby, from one of the vendors. Once they had received their meal Tom asked, "Did you see anything worth while, _**Remy?"**_

Remy shrugged, "They have nice stuff, but nothin' I really be needin'."

"And what kind of stuff would that be?" asked Tom curiously.

Remy chuckled, "I'll know when I see it, I guess."

"In other words, nothing that you couldn't do without, but would like now that you can afford it." Tom stated with a smile. Remy gave an answering grin as he sipped his after meal coffee.

Tom noticed a figure standing in the middle of the moving crowd, looking in their direction with disbelief that was slowly morphing into anger. The female was about 6' with long white hair, and caramel colored skin. She finally made her way towards them as a carter yelled at her to move, before she got herself killed. Tom quickly asked, "_**Remy,**_ would that be who I think it is, heading this way?" as he subtly gestured with his chin towards the female.

Remy cautiously turned his head and internally flinched as he noticed the expression on his former teammates face. "If you're thinking that be Stormy, you'd be right. And she don't look all that happy to be seeing me right now, maybe we should go." he stated.

"I think its a bit late for that." Tom said as he waved the owner over to settle their tab.

Storm stopped just inside the doors to the café and called out, "Remy LeBeau, How dare you, sit there while the rest of us worry about you?" Tom sighed as he gave the owner a 50 pound note to mind his own business, as he and Remy made their way towards the irate Storm.

"Now, Stormy," Remy began as he cautiously walked next to Tom, and towards the very thing all men instinctively feared, a pissed off powerful woman.

"Don't you Stormy me. Start explaining or I'll let Logan get the answers out of you his way."

Tom stepped infront of Storm and said in a quiet voice, "How 'bout you stop your tongue before you lose it. Your status of a foreigner will only allow you so much leniency in this country, before the locals will see to reeducating you."

"You dare to threaten me?" She began.

"Not threaten, inform. Take a good luck at the males in local dress, and you will see that I speak the truth. The only reason the owner of this establishment hasn't set you straight yet is because I paid him not to. Now you can either stay here and continue as you were, or you can come with us somewhere we can talk in a reasonable manner without having to observe local customs." Tom replied, with a raised eyebrow, as he moved them out of the café and towards his jeep. His obvious irritation gave them a clear path throughout the bazaar, not even the pickpockets were foolish enough to try their luck on such a hefty score.

Once at the jeep Tom asked, "Now how many are with you?"

"Why should I talk to you, I don't even know you."

"No, you don't but you do know him." Tom said as he indicated Remy with a jerk of his thumb. Tom sighed and tossing Remy the keys, he asked, "_**Remy, love,**_ could you get me the iron box inside the glove box please."

Remy caught the keys, and got out the box Tom had asked for, it was marked with several serpents, and a had a counter on the top. In the short time he held the box, Remy couldn't identify a lock of any kind. Tom took the box and looked at the counter, it read 447 days. 'Do I really need this, yes I really do.' Tom thought to himself as muttered the spells in parseltongue and pressed his thumb against a serpents mouth to open the box. He reached inside and took out a lighter and half empty pack of cigarettes, he lit one up and took a drag before he closed the box and focused on the two people looking at him.

"Sorry, want one?" he asked, holding out the pack towards Remy.

Remy took the pack before he said, "I thought you didn't smoke."

"I don't, only when I know my temper is going to be a problem and my other options are unavailable to me. Hence the counter, its been that many days since I had my last one." Tom turned to look at a gaping Storm, "I blame you by the way. Year and half down the drain." he said as he blew smoke rings in her direction.

"You can't possibly blame your smoking on me." Storm gasped in disbelief.

"I can, and I do. Now get in the jeep, so we can go somewhere that we can talk in private. Depending on who is with you and how many they are, I might allow them to join us as well. Otherwise, bugger off." Tom stated irritably as he took another drag, as he identified four different pairs of footsteps moving cautiously towards them and various whispers of 'isn't he supposed to be dead?'. "Get in the jeep, _**Remy,**_ and lock the doors."

"But,"

"Just do it, I don't want you to be hit in a crossfire again. Take her with you." Tom said as he focused his bright green eyes on his lover. Remy swallowed and did as he was told, once he was inside he heard a cold voice call out, making him cringe in revulsion.

"AH, look what we have here, the little weather witch and her erstwhile brother, just waitin for us to take em on. You didn't think you could escape us forever did you, thief. I've missed your screams, my little pet." Sabortooth taunted.

Tom's eyes turned slitted as he drew in a drag, and heard what the feral was saying about his lover. He could feel his canines elongating and the poison start to drip down his throat as his inner beast fought for control. Tom let out a loud deep growl as the attack began.

'Three, I know I heard four sets of footsteps.' Tom thought as he allowed his beast free range over his fighting abilities. His skin became small copper colored scales, and two small horns became noticeable through his hair. He caught a harpoon as it was thrown at his stomach and spun with it before throwing it back at its sender with considerably more force, as it went completely through the man and lodged halfway through the concrete wall thirty yards behind him. Another male closed in to grapple with him and tried to stab him in the chest with a wickedly curved knife, but instead of crying out in pain as the man thought he would, Tom merely looked down at the knife embedded in his chest and smiled as he ripped the bloody thing out and returned the favor to his would be killer.

"Hey blondie, I'm not done yet." Tom called out from where he stood over the body of his latest kill, as he saw the blond feral from Antarctica rap on the window of the jeep, making his lover go pale and back away in fear.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to fix that now won't I." Creed stated as he turned back to see Tom still alive and standing, the blood on his shirt the only indication that he had taken a hit. He made his way over calling back, "This won't take long, my pet. Then it'll be just you and me again, we have so much lost time to make up for, you know."

"_He is not your pet!"_ Tom growled out at the figure approaching him.

Creed stopped in his stalk for a second as he processed what the green eyed man had just said. "Oh, but he is. Has been for years now, I claimed him when he first started working with the boss. He was so tight, and his screams could be heard throughout the entire complex, they were music to my ears."

Tom could see Remy pale even more as he heard what Creed was saying, Tom fiercely held onto his temper and paid attention to the feral's movement instead of the vile filth he was spouting. He knew there was one other person out there and if he allowed himself to lose control completely, it could cost him dearly. "You'll never get the chance to harm him again." he stated in a cold voice as he allowed the blond to get within striking range, and palmed his Slytherin dagger in his left hand.

"And you're the one thats going to stop me, just how do you plan on doing that once you're dead?" Sabortooth said as he gripped Tom's throat with his clawed hands.

Tom answered, "Who said, I'd be the one to die?" before he impaled him with a dagger of Slytherin, and struck the feral in the neck with his fangs, letting the venom do its job. As he felt the feral weakening he drew the Sword of Gryffindor from the air and brought down with enough force to send the feral's head several yards away where it hit the wall with a sickening crack.

Tom tore his shirt off, and conjured some water so he could clean off his blades. Tom felt eyes on him as he worked, ignoring them for now, he finished his task and conjured fresh ice cold water. He then proceeded to pour it over his head, to wash away his blood from the chest wound earlier. As the water calmed his inner beast, Tom felt the horns and fangs recede as the scales and black ridge markings along his back shrink down and fade until they were no longer visible. Tom called out to the shadows,"Whether you be friend or foe, show yourself. Before I make that distinction for you."

**Back in the Jeep**

Remy shoved his sister into the backseat of the jeep, and climbed in after her before locking the doors. He heard Sabortooth's voice call out 'that he missed his screams', and went pale in remembrance of the times Creed had forcibly taken him,while he had been working for Sinister. Remy started shaking as he watched the feral approach, along with Switchblade and Harpoon. 'OH, no. Tom.' Remy thought as he heard his lover growl before attacking.

Storm was shoved into the backseat on the orders of an unknown male by the one person she had always thought of as her brother. "What has gotten into you, Remy?" she asked before she saw him go pale and start shaking. Storm looked out of the window and saw that they were being surrounded, by a grinning Sabortooth and his lackeys. The unknown male suddenly let out a fierce growl before he threw down his cigarette and went on the attack. 'Just who is this guy,and why is he with Remy?' she thought to herself as she watched him.

Remy saw Tom get stabbed in the chest and cried out, "NO!!". Remy made to open the door but stopped as he saw the smile on Tom's face, it was the same one he wore earlier when facing the goblins in battle. 'How can he be smiling, when he's just been seriously wounded.' Remy continued to watch as Tom removed the bloody knife from his own chest and stabbed it into his assailant, he then gave the knife hilt a kick and made it come out the other side. Just then a figure rapped on jeep's window causing Storm to scream. Remy turned around and grabbed Storm, before pressing himself as far away from the sight of an evilly grinning Sabortooth as he could.

Storm broke out of Remy's grasp as his hold on her started to hurt. She raised her hand to hit him upside his head "What?" she began, but stopped as she noticed just how pale, he had gone. Remy saw the raised hand in his fear over Sabortooth's words he curled himself into a ball, and started muttering under his breath, "non, pas encore," 'no, not again,'

Storm couldn't understand what Remy was saying, but as he was obviously in distress she moved to comfort him. She placed a hand on his shoulder, but that only made him flinch at the touch and his shaking to increase. Storm tried touching one of his hands instead, but was shocked for her trouble. When she looked at the hand, again she noticed a small piece of metal attached to a slim chain was being held in a firm grip. Storm noticed a lull in the fighting and looked back out of the window as the unknown male decapitated Sabortooth, and blood exploded onto his face. She watched as he tore off his shirt and cleaned off his blades. His chest was covered in bright shiny, copper colored scales and she could clearly see two small horns on top of his head. His gaze found hers as he drenched himself in cold water making the scales and horns shrink and blend into his skin perfectly. She heard him call out to the shadows for someone to show themselves already, Storm was never so grateful to hear the gruff voice of Logan as she was now,

"I don't know who you are, bub. But thats my girl in your jeep over there." said a gravely voice from the shadows. As the figure stepped into the light Tom saw a short man, about five feet tall, with wild black hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in rugged blue jeans and a tanned shirt, he also had three metal claws extended from each hand.

Tom glanced at the jeep's occupants and saw the female looking at the new arrival with something bordering upon relief. "Sheave your claws, and we can talk." he replied as he made his way towards the driver's seat.

"Not so fast, bub. How 'bout you explain what just happened here." Logan said as he moved to hinder Tom's progress, his claws still out.

"Move." Tom replied as he let his magic flare knocking Logan back a couple of feet. Reaching the jeep, he opened the back door hoping his lover was alright. He found him curled up in a ball shaking, and muttering in French "non, pas encore," 'no, not again.'

Tom glared at the female for not comforting his lover when he was obviously distressed and gently laid his hand on Remy's head and ran his fingers through his hair. "_**Remy?**_ Allons chéri, c'est terminé. Il ne pourra plus te faire du tord." 'Come on love, its over. He can't hurt you anymore.'

Remy faintly heard Tom's voice speaking to him in French, as he felt the familiar fingers running through his hair he allowed the words and motions to calm his shaking form, slightly. He slowly started to raise his eyes to take in his surroundings again and was relieved to see Tom, standing in the door. He uncurled some more and lightly ran his fingers over Tom's chest where the stab wound should have been, Tom gently stopped the roaming fingers as he felt himself tighten, he brought the hand up to his lips and gave them a gentle kiss, before asking, "est-ce que tu vas bien chéri?" 'Are you alright, love?'

"Oui, est-ce qu'on peut rentrer maintenant?" 'Yes. Can we go home now?' Remy answered as he felt Tom's arms go around him in a comforting hug.

Tom replied, "Bien sûr. Qu'est-ce je fais avec nos invités?" 'Sure, we can. What should I do with our guests?'

Remy placed his head on Tom's chest as he looked over two of his former teammates, watching them in confusion. "Est-ce qu'on peut les emmener avec nous, juste pour savoir ce qu'ils veulent?" 'Can we take them with us, just to see what they want?' he asked.

Tom thought it over, and replied, "D'accord, mais s'ils osent te faire encore de la peine, je les jetterai aux cachots,d'accord?" 'Alright but if they cause you any more distress they will be tossed in the dungeons, deal?'

"D'accord." 'Deal', Remy replied, as he saw Logan trying to get a straight answer out of speechless Storm. "Get in the car, Wolvie. We need to get out of here, 'fore the cops show up, and arrest us all for this mess." Just as Remy said that a group of ten teens made their way into the lot, and stopped cold at the sight of the blood and bodies.

Tom hit them all with silent stunners and said, "No worries, _**love**_, I'll get Oleander to clear things up for us here." as he lifted the car phone and hit redial. As he spoke to the receptionist again he heard 'Wolvie', question his lover.

"Just who is this guy, Gumbo?" a confused feral asked, as he looked past Remy at the person he was clinging to like a life line. The man just gave him a raised eyebrow, before he went back to talking on the phone in Arabic.

Remy stayed silent as he listened to Tom's heart beating under his ear, while he talked to his friend from earlier. Tom hung up the phone, and gently raised Remy's head from his chest as he spoke, "They'll be here in a minute."

"They're not gonna, blame you for this mess, are they?" Remy asked suddenly in concern as he remembered the talk from earlier.

"No, Oleander will make sure, we're not held responsible. It'll cost me a social evening with him and his wife, but I can live with that." Tom answered, with a half grin.

Tom heard a several pops, and mild shocked curses, before a low voice stated, "High Champion Parsel."

"Auror Longbottom." Tom nodded his head to the leader, "The muggles that need to be obliviated are over here. They came on the scene as we were about to leave, and shouldn't have to live with the images of this place."

"Right," Neville said as he motioned the obliviation squad to start working, before he made his way closer to the jeep and whispered, "So, what exactly happened here?"

Tom's face grew stony as he replied, "They attacked, I defended, end of story."

" Yeah, but," He asked as he looked around at the blood and gore splattered walls, and where one of the squad was losing his lunch in a corner.

"I said End Of Story, Oleander." Tom stated in tight voice, as he glared at his once time friend.

Neville, took the hint and gave a slight cough to hide his discomfort, before continuing, "Right, Um. So tomorrow night, did you want to go to our house or yours?"

"I think it would be best if you came to mine. No offense but this makes the second attack since I arrived here yesterday afternoon."

"Understandable, you never did trust your safety to others, can't say I blame you though."

"No, no you really can't. You got something I can make into a portkey for you and the Missus?" Tom asked as he lit a fresh cigarette with his thumb and handed it to his lover before lighting one for himself.

"Yeah, just give me a second." Neville replied as he padded down his pockets, pulling out a sheet of parchment he handed it to Tom. "Here you go."

Tom took the parchment and folded it into an origami serpent, before he cast a portus on it. Making it send only Neville and a pregnant Luna to his house, at 7:30 tomorrow night, handing it back to Neville he said, "All done, I'll see you at 7:30. Try not to lose it in the meantime."

Neville blushed as he said, "It was one time,"

"Yes it was, and as I recall you and Harry were deep within enemy territory, when his portkey went off and you didn't follow him. Making me have to go back and get you. So don't lose it this time."

"Sir, we're done here." a sickly looking rookie said from behind them.

"Alright pack up and go, a forgetfulness potion for each of you are waiting on my desk." Neville said in an offhand manner before turning back to face Parsel once more. "Well, you're free to go. Try to stay out of trouble, at least until after Eclipse has seen you."

"No promises." Tom stated before Neville could apparate away.

Remy chuckled at the gobsmacked expressions on his friends faces as they watched the proceedings. When the others had left and it was just the four of them once more, Remy said, "So, you coming with or not?"

Storm recovered first and said, "Not until you explain what just happened here."

"Your loss," Tom replied as he got into the driver's seat, while Remy climbed into the passenger seat once more, and started the engine.

Logan stepped infront of the jeep and said, "Now just hold on minute, bub. We want answers, and you're gonna give them to us."

"Then get in already, I will answer all the questions you have for me when we get somewhere that I know is safe." Tom said in irritation.

"Just do it, guys." Remy said from his place in the passenger seat, while he fiddled with his pendant, as the shock of what had just occurred fully started to sink in. "Tom, you got anything to drink in here?"

"Check under the seat, Sharptooth's wife likes to send me care packages via her husband." Tom stated as he waited for the others to get in. Once the doors had closed behind his passengers Tom started driving away. Remy handed the box to Tom once he had pulled it out. Tom passed his hand over the top enlarging it and pressed his thumb to the seal in the middle of the package before handing it back to his lover. "try the single malt whiskey, everything else in there might be too strong for you right now."

Remy nodded as he recalled seeing several goblins, drinking some foul smelling liquids at the tournament. He rummaged through and saw butterbeer, gillywater, elderflower wine, elderberry wine, red currant rum, mead, Ogden's finest firewhiskey and several other bottles written in different languages he couldn't identify, finally he found the single malt whiskey and took it out and set the box back on the floor. Remy opened it and took a long pull on the bottle.

"Easy there, _**love. **_I don't want to have to deal with your friends by myself." Tom stated as he took the bottle away.

Remy gave a cough as his throat burned and his eyes started to water, from the strength of the alcohol he had just ingested. "Are you sure that was single malt?" he managed to croak out. Tom just chuckled, as he put the bottle away and continued driving towards his house. About fifteen minutes later, Remy placed his hand on Tom's thigh as the alcohol started affecting his judgment, he moved it higher when he heard no objection to his placement. Tom felt the hand moving closer to his groin and licked his lips, before remembering that there were others in the vehicle and placed his hand on top of Remy's stopping its movement, before saying, "autant que j'aimerais vous permettez de continue, je dois demander que vous arrêtez au moins jusqu'à ce que nous sommes à la maison." 'as much as i would like to let you continue, i must ask that you stop at least until we're at the house.'

Remy removed his hand and crossed his arms over his chest and replied in a gruff voice, "la droite que je comprends, n'veux pas quelqu'un d'utilisé." 'right i understand, don't want used goods.'

Tom stopped the jeep, and turned in his seat, ignoring the people in the backseat entirely as he focused on his lover, "Non, ce n'est pas comme ça. Je vous veux encore." 'No, its not like that. I still want you very much.' he said as he gently stroked Remy's cheek and ghosted his thumb over his lips causing them to part slightly.

Remy closed his eyes, and whispered, "prouve le moi." 'prove it.' Tom moved his hand to cup the back of Remy's neck and gently moved him closer as he leaned in and ghosted over Remy's lips with his own before lightly licking at each corner of his mouth, causing Remy to draw in a sharp breath. He slipped his tongue inside, and mapped out the hot cavern inch by inch, making Remy moan deeply as he brought his hands up to touch Tom's bare chest once more. A cough from the backseat, caused Tom to break the kiss, and Remy to still his hands as they both glared at the interrupter.

Tom whispered in Remy's ear, _"Juste une autre demie heure de conduite avant que nous atteignons la maison. Si vous voulez toujours que je vous démontre_ _combien je vous veux quand nous arrivons là, je le ferai__."_ 'just another half hour of driving before we reach the house. If you still want me to prove how much i want you when we get there i will.'

"Je vous tiendrai à cela." 'I'll hold you to that'. Was Remy's reply as he sat back in his seat and let Tom continue to drive. He closed his eyes and was quickly engulfed in sleep.

Storm watched the scenery fly by as she and Logan rode in the back seat, to who knew where, with a guy who had just killed three men infront of them. The only reason they were in the car at all was the red eyed thief who was currently drinking in the front seat. Logan seemed a little disappointed that he wasn't offered a drink before the bottle was put away, but shrugged it off. After all he wouldn't share his good stuff with someone he didn't know anything about either. Around twenty minutes later the sweet smell of arousal assaulted his nose, raising an eyebrow he saw the Cajun move his hand up the driver's thigh, causing the scent to increase exponentially. He heard them talking in French again and tried to follow their conversation, but was lost instantly due to the rapid fluidity they spoke with.

When the car came to a sudden stop, Storm and Logan looked around, but after noticing they were nowhere near a building of any kind, proceeded to watch the others to find out what was going on. What they saw made their jaws drop as the driver gently stroked Remy's cheek while he talked. They heard a whisper before the man tenderly kissed Remy making him moan, as the scent of arousal grew even stronger Logan could feel himself harden as he watched the kiss grow more heated until Storm let out a cough. All three of the men turned to glare at Storm, for stopping them. Logan heard the green eyed man say something else in French but this time it had a sensual quality to it, which made him even harder. Logan closed his eyes as he felt the jeep start to move forward again and said to Storm, "I don't know whether I should thank you for stopping them or not 'Ro."

"Surely you didn't want to see them continue, Logan." Storm replied in a hoarse voice as she tried to figure out what she had just witnessed, based on what she knew of her brother's tastes.

"I don't know 'Ro, all I know is, that was hot." he stated as he cracked an eye open to take in Storm's expression. She resembled a goldfish for a moment before she snapped her jaw shut, crossed her arms and turned to glare out the window for the remainder of the trip.

Tom pulled up to his house and stopped at the edge of the wards, he bit into his hand and dropped several drops of blood onto the ground while hissing in parseltounge. The others in the car watched as a plain desert view of nothing but sand, suddenly became a two story mansion, with extensive greenery around the yard. They could even hear the sound of a small waterfall not to far off in the distance, the jeep pulled into a massive garage before the driver turned off the engine and exited the jeep, and went to Remy's door and gently woke him up.

Tom whispered to Remy, "This is just like the other house, anything that was left behind will be here as well. The cabinets, dressers, closets, bookshelves, and desks are all linked together so I don't have to worry about not having what I need at each location."

Remy nodded his head in understanding as he saw Logan and Storm eyeing them speculatively, he asked, "Did I do something?"

"Yes, you did. You had too much to drink and forgot they were in the jeep with us, and wanted me to prove I still wanted you." Tom whispered in Remy's ear.

Remy blushed as he recalled what Tom was talking about, swallowing he said, "Right, I'm sorry if I.."

"No sorries, I shouldn't have let you drink that much. Goblin made whiskey is vastly stronger than what you are used to having." Tom stated.

"So what do we do now?"

"We go inside, and see what our guests want." Tom stated as he put his arm around Remy's waist and motioned for the others to follow. As he came to the door he snapped his fingers and all the things inside the jeep lifted up and followed after them before shooting off in different directions as it put itself away. The foursome entered into a comfortable lounge, Tom sat on a couch with Remy beside him. Logan and Storm looked at each other than at the other occupants, namely Remy who was tucked in close to the other man.

Storm finally asked, "Remy, what is wrong with you? I've never seen you even remotely interested in a male and here you are practically sitting on this man's lap, and lets not forget that kiss in the car."

Remy turned his head away from his sister as her words hurt him deeply, as he took them as rejection. Tom stroked his side in comfort before interrupting the tirade, "Madame, after all that you witnessed today, the first things you do is question his sexual preferences. Not where he has been for the last month, or how he got here from where he was abandoned by your teammates. Now shut your trap, sit down and then look at what your incriminating words are doing to your brother. I said I would answer your questions not him."

Remy spoke up quietly from his spot and said, "Tom, I think I'll go to my room."

Tom nodded his head, as he replied, "Sure, just say my name if you need anything, anything at all, and I'll be there in an instant."

Remy stood up and nodded before he made his way to the stairs, avoiding looking at his former teammates. Once Tom heard his door close he turned his glare to the still standing guests. "You better have a damn good reason for crushing his hopes like that, or the fight you saw earlier will seem like a cake walk after I finish with the both of you."

"What are you talking about, bub? We've been told he went off on some mission and never reported back in, and then we find him out here, doing just fine." Logan stated in confusion.

"Did he look fine to you just now? He's been sending you emails every three days telling you he was doing alright, every time he would check his mail, he'd get a disappointed look on his face when he never received a reply. And now here you are the two people he missed the most, and you don't even ask about him, except to bring his choice of preferences into question, effectively rejecting him again in his eyes." Tom paused in his speech as he felt the wards alerting him to a problem coming from Remy's room.

"Fuck." he said before he disappeared from his spot and reappeared next to his lover in the shower. Remy was sitting on the floor of the shower in a corner, his head cradled in his arms on his knees. Tom wrapped his arms around him and turned off the water with magic. "Shh, its alright love, its going to be alright."

Remy looked up and put his arms around Tom's neck as he let his tears fall. Tom gently lifted Remy up cradled against his chest and moved them towards the bed. He cast drying charms over each of them before he sat on the bed with Remy sitting in his lap. "I thought they cared, I was such a fool." Remy muttered into Tom's shoulder.

"No, you're not a fool, for thinking that. We all want someone to care about us, its human nature. Even I've been subject to it a time or two." Tom stated as he rubbed circles along Remy's back, and held him closer.

"You'd think I would be used to rejection by now." Remy continued. "No one will ever care for a washed up mutant thief."

"You're right, because I don't care for a washed up mutant thief either. I care for the amazingly skilled mutant thief, who just happened to show up one day and brought me out of my hidey hole and showed me what I was missing." Tom said in a quiet voice, to a stunned cajun.

"You actually care about me, even though you know what was done to me before?" Remy asked nervously.

Tom lifted Remy's chin and looked into the clouded red eyes, "Love, I already guessed that something like that had happened, to you. I recognized the signs as I'd seen it too many times during the war. Thats why I've been very careful, not to push you too far. I don't just care for your body, as tempting as it is, I care for you, all of you past included."

Remy saw the depth of Tom's emotions in his eyes, and sighed as he lowered his shields letting the warmth fill him. "Make love to me." he whispered, as he nibbled on Tom's neck.

Tom stilled Remy's movements and replied, "Look at me, Are you sure?"

Remy looked into Tom's eyes and and nodded his head. Tom searched those ruby eyes for any hint of a doubt or lingering fear, and saw nothing but love and desire. Tom moaned as he captured those luscious lips with his own. He turned them so they both were laying on the bed, as he ran his hands down Remy's sides and over his legs. He moved his knee between both of Remy's and banished his pants to the floor. Remy moaned as he felt Tom's knee against his rapidly hardening cock. He trailed kisses down Tom's raised chest making him hiss in pleasure, before he brought their hips together. Tom sucked an earlobe into his mouth while his hands played with Remy's pert nibbles, and their cocks rubbed against each other. Tom trailed a hand down Remy's cleft carefully waiting for any indication that he should stop. When he received none, he whispered a lubrication spell onto it and, circled around his love's entrance before pushing in slightly, eliciting a gasp from Remy at the intrusion. "I can stop anytime you want." Tom reminded his lover.

"Non, don't stop. Feels good." Remy said between breathless pants, as Tom's other hand worked on his leaking member. Tom nodded and moved his finger deeper, and moved it in and out slowly, as he kissed and nipped over ever inch of visible skin he could reach. After a few minutes he slipped a second finger inside and made a scissoring motion, stretching the tight passage. Remy pushed back against the fingers wanting something more, but not sure what. Tom moved his fingers around until he found a spot he was looking for and pressed against it, causing Remy to cry out, "Oh, gods" as he came over Tom's chest. Tom pulled Remy into a deep kiss as the after shocks rocked his body, as he added a third finger into his lover. Remy saw stars infront of his eyes, as Tom continued to do such pleasurable things to his body.

Tom lifted Remy's thigh over his hip as he plunged his fingers deeper making sure to hit the sweet spot over and over again. He felt Remy hardening again and moaning with each thrust of his fingers. Remy wrapped his arms over Toms back and held on tightly, while he kissed over Tom's neck and shoulder. Remy pulled Tom closer, increasing the friction between their bodies, he wrapped his other leg around Tom's hips making Tom's cock slip behind his balls. Tom pulled out his fingers and said, "Last chance, love. Yes or no?" as he hovered just outside Remy's entrance.

It took all of Tom's self control not to enter until he heard the answer. Remy saw the cords in Tom's neck as he held himself still waiting on his reply. "Yes," he breathed.

Tom whispered the lubrication spell again, and slowly entered his lover, biting his lip to stop himself from coming right then. Remy felt a much bigger intrusion than the fingers had been, and moaned at the feeling. 'Gods, it feels so good.' he thought as Tom continued to push inside, it burned slightly but not enough to make him want to stop. Once Tom was fully sheathed inside his love, he waited a moment for Remy to get used to the feeling of his being inside him. Remy moved against Tom indicating that he was ready, and Tom pulled back out again, adjusted his angle and reentered, he knew he had hit the right spot when he heard Remy cry out again, "Oh, gods...mmm." Tom made a few more slow thrusts before Remy's moans took the last of his restraint away and he sped up his motions. "Oh, Tom.. yes... gods you feel good... mmm...oh.. please...faster Tom.."

Tom drew Remy into a deep kiss as he felt his orgasm threatening and sped up even more, while stroking his lover. Remy broke the kiss, shouting out, 'yes..yess....Oh GODS YES TOM." as he came over Tom's hand and stomach again. Tom felt Remy's channel contracting over his member and bit down on Remy's shoulder to stop his cries as he followed his lover over the edge.

As they both recovered from their high Tom kissed over his bite mark, and closed eyes as he gently slipped out of his lover, never noticing faint golden markings appear under the tanned skin. Tom moved over and collapsed onto the bed, before pulling Remy closer, and cast cleansing charms over them both. After about ten minutes, Tom cast a tempus and swore when he realized they had left their guests unsupervised for close on two hours now. Remy looked up at Tom with sated eyes and asked, "Whats wrong?"

"I take it you also forgot, we had guests." Tom said, closing his eyes, refusing to let them ruin his moment of peace.

"Fuck," Remy swore as he tried to get up, but was stopped by Tom's arms around his waist.

"There's no need to rush, love. They've waited this long, they can wait a little longer while we take a shower and get dressed." Tom stated as he sat up to kiss his way down Remy's neck again.

Remy arched his neck to allow better access, he moaned as Tom started sucking on his neck leaving little love bites. "You're going to turn me on again, Tom." he managed to get out.

"And thats a bad thing, how exactly?" Tom asked between nips and kisses as he moved his hands over Remy's thighs.

"Mmm, its not, but I don't think I can go again. Not yet at least."

Tom paused in his actions, and replied, "I bet you could, but I'll stop so we can get our showers done." Tom gave Remy one last deep kiss before he left the bed, picked up his pants, and made his way towards the door. He gave Remy one last smoldering look before, he gave a wink and went to take his own shower in his room. Tom kept his good feeling all through his shower and while he got dressed in a pair of faded blue jean shorts, and a white muscle shirt. He called up his monitors to see just where his 'guests' actually were and saw that they had been sent to the dungeons for trying to enter his study. Tom turned off the monitor and left the room, and smiled as he saw Remy waiting for him.

Remy slowly made his way to his own shower shortly after Tom had left and grinned when he found he was still able to walk normally, and only had a pleasant ache to remind him of what they had just done. 'definitely doing that again, and soon.' he thought to himself as he washed up. He pulled on a pair of light brown shorts and a white muscle shirt, before leaving his room to wait for Tom. As the door opened, Remy saw Tom smile at him and gave him an answering grin. He grabbed Tom's waist, pulled him closer and kissed him soundly.

Tom responded to the kiss, and deepened it as he backed his lover up against the wall. As full contact was made, he ended the kiss and said, "What happened to waiting?"

"Oh, we're still waiting. Just had to have one more to tide me over while we talk to the others." Remy replied.

"That so? You can have as many more as you need, while we talk to them. If they don't like it,they can leave." Tom replied between kisses, before he forced himself to stop and move away from his lover. "Now lets, go rescue them from the dungeons, idiots tried breaking into my study and the wards sent them there."

"But Stormys claustrophobic." Remy stated in worry.

"Relax, its the dungeons not a torture chamber, just like the room we made your double in. Could even be used as a cellar if I wanted to convert it." Tom soothed. "Besides its not like they are being restrained, just not allowed to leave until I get there and release them."

They made the rest of the trip down in silence, Tom stepped in front of the nearest cell and saw, Logan leaning against a wall with his arms crossed over his chest, and Storm sitting on the floor, with her head in her hands sobbing quietly. Tom quirked an eyebrow at the feral and motioned to the female, he asked, "Whats up with her? Its only a dungeon cell. Quiet spacious one in fact, not even a door to give the closed in feeling, so its not her claustrophobia thats making her cry."

Logan shrugged, and replied, "Shes worried 'bout the Cajun. Where is he by the way?"

Remy stepped out of the shadows behind Tom and said, "Right here, Mon Ami. Ya'll didn't seem too concerned bout me, earlier."

"Yeah well, we were. You know I don't go in for all that wishy washy feelings crap. Storm tried calling for help, and broke down when she couldn't even get static out of her communicator."

Tom chuckled as he replied, "Yeah, they don't work out here."

"They work everywhere else, bub." Logan sneered.

"Everywhere else but here, and my other estates, or vehicles. Did you really think I didn't notice the signal beacon you 'dropped' when you entered the jeep? Amateurs, I swear." Tom sighed before turning to Remy and stating, "Your choice, we let them back out into the house, or question them here?"

Remy nodded his head and turned to his former teammates, "We'll let you out, as long as you promise to behave. And don't touch me, either of you."

"Why not?" Storm asked quietly. "You used to welcome a hug from me."

"Because, I don't want you to. Not until, I get some answers." Remy stated before turning back to Tom, he nodded once more and made his way back up to the living room.

Tom watched his lover exit the room and turned back to the occupants, he stuck his hand through the invisible barrier and said. "Well, are you coming or not? I'm only going to wait another two minutes before I leave you here." Seeing disbelieving faces he continued, "Minute and a half."

That got Logan moving, he picked up Storm and made his way over to Tom. He moved his own hand through the barrier to make sure it wasn't a trick, after not receiving a shock he crossed the rest of the way over. Tom withdrew his hand from the barrier and it flared back to life. "This way." He commanded, as he led the way to the living room and a waiting Remy.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own what I own and nothing more.

**Previously**

**Living Room**

**After Tom disappeared**

Logan and Storm stared at the empty spot that had just held their green eyed host moments before in shock. "Where did he go?" questioned Storm.

"If I would have to guess, I'd say he went upstairs to check on the Cajun." Logan replied scratching his chin as he heard a shower turn off. "He did tell him to say his name and he would be there instantly, guess he wasn't kidding."

"I can't believe I just said that to him. Its not like theres anything wrong with him being with a guy, its just after helping him get back with Rogue so many times and seeing him flirt with all the girls in town and in bars, it just never occurred to me that he would want a male, you know." Storm stated, to Logan as she played back her words to Remy from a few moments ago in her head.

"I know what you mean, 'Ro. But then again, after what all Creed was sayin' before that guy killed him, it makes sense that he would stay away from other males to protect himself." Logan said as he remembered back to when Remy had first joined the x-men, and how he was always skittish around him and a few of the other males back at the institute. He'd just assumed it was due to not being used to being part of a group, and always working alone. Logan ran a hand over his face before asking, "I know the reason why I didn't get any emails was because I didn't have a computer at my cabin, then I came down here with you as soon as I had gotten back, but why didn't you get any?"

"I don't know, I checked it whenever I got a chance, but can't remember having received a mail from Remy." Storm replied. "Do you think he was lying?"

"As much as I would like to tell you yes, I can't. He had no reason to lie, something is going on and we need to figure out what." Logan replied.

"Then why..," Storm started to ask as she thought back over the past month. She looked at her watch and saw that three quarters of an hour had passed since they had been left on their own, and her

worry came back as she was plagued by all the things that could be wrong with her brother. She stood up and went towards the staircase.

"Where are you going?" Questioned Logan as he moved behind her.

"I'm going to check on my brother and apologize for what I said earlier." Storm answered, as she placed her hand on the banister and moved her foot onto the first step. She was thrown back into Logan's arm as a light flared infront of them for a minute, effectively barring entrance to the upper floors, before it settled back down and was invisible once more.

Logan caught Storm and stared at the barrier, while asking, "You alright there, 'Ro?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." she replied, while looking at the stairs curiously, "How come Remy was able to go up the stairs earlier and I can't?"

"Probably because hes allowed up there and we're not, he did say he was going to his room." Logan stated as he set Storm back down in a chair.

Storm glared at him before she got back up and said, "I can't just sit here waiting for them to return, maybe theres a computer around here somewhere that we can use to check on those emails he sent us."

"Ro, I don't think its a good idea to go looking into random rooms, you saw what happened on the stairs. Who knows what might happen if you tried to enter a room. Besides he probably has some kind of password on it." Logan reasoned.

"Well, I can't just sit here." She stated as she went looking around, Logan reluctantly followed her just incase anything happened. They traveled into the kitchen, past the open door to a rec room, and peeked into a partially open door to a library that had an easel and writing materials setup in the middle of the room. They shared a look as they tried to make out what was written on the board, but gave it up as being too far away to make out. Finally they came to a room that was slightly ajar and they could see a computer sitting on a stylish desk. Storm gave Logan a triumphant grin as she crossed the threshold, Logan sighed before quickly following after her. Once they were both inside, they felt a peculiar sensation travel across their skin before they heard a hiss and became disoriented. When they looked around the room again, it wasn't an office anymore but an empty room made of stone, with only a dual sink and a toilet in the corner. A doorway stood off to the side, as they approached it they saw it flare to life just like the stairs had.

Storm sat down in defeat as she heard Logan say, "What did I tell ya'?"

Ororo huffed at the feral and pushed her communicator, sure that at least she could get some answers out of the others but as she waited for a response she heard nothing but silence. She tried to contact Logan's communicator but even with him standing not five feet from here, there was no signal, Storm put here head in her hands as she let herself cry tears of frustration, and worry.

Logan knew he was out of his depth as soon as he saw Storm's eyes watering, he wisely stayed away and leaned against the wall with his arms over his chest as he tried to tune out the sounds of crying female. He tried to remember all the information that their host had given them before he disappeared. 'He was abandoned at least a month ago, and this guy what was his name, Tom has been with him for at least most of that time. Now the question is where was he abandoned and why. Also just who is this Tom guy, an old friend, old flame, or something else and what was with how he looked earlier.'

He snapped out of his thoughts as their host drew his attention by standing outside their 'door' and asking what was wrong with Storm. he asked, "Whats up with her? Its only a dungeon cell. Quiet spacious one in fact, not even a door to give the closed in feeling, so its not her claustrophobia thats making her cry."

Logan shrugged, and replied, "Shes worried 'bout the Cajun. Where is he by the way?"

Remy stepped out of the shadows behind Tom and said, "Right here, Mon Ami. Y'all didn't seem too concerned bout me, earlier."

"Yeah well, we were. You know I don't go in for all that wishy washy feelings crap. Storm tried calling for help, and broke down when she couldn't even get static out of her communicator." Logan replied silently relieved that Remy was here as well, he didn't know why but those green eyes unnerved him.

Tom chuckled as he replied, "Yeah, they don't work out here."

"They work everywhere else, bub." Logan sneered as his attention was brought back to their host.

"Everywhere else but here, and my other estates, or vehicles. Did you really think I didn't notice the signal beacon you 'dropped' when you entered the jeep? Amateurs, I swear." Tom sighed before turning to Remy and stating, "Your choice, we let them back out into the house, or question them here?"

Remy nodded his head and turned to his former teammates, "We'll let you out, as long as you promise to behave. And don't touch me, either of you."

"Why not?" Storm asked quietly. "You used to welcome a hug from me."

"Because, I don't want you to. Not until, I get some answers." Remy stated before turning back to Tom, he nodded once more and made his way back up to the living room.

Tom watched his lover exit the room and turned back to the occupants, he stuck his hand through the invisible barrier and said. "Well, are you coming or not? I'm only going to wait another two minutes before I leave you here."

Logan just looked at him for a minute as he realized just how bad things were if Remy didn't want even Storm to touch him, 'He barely trusts us anymore, is that because of what the others did to him or is it Tom's influence on him. He stopped staring as he heard Tom say "Minute and a half."

He picked up Storm and made his way over to Tom. He moved his own hand through the barrier to make sure it wasn't a trick, after not receiving a shock he crossed the rest of the way over. Tom withdrew his hand from the barrier and it flared back to life. "This way." He commanded, as he led the way up the stairs.

"Wait," Logan said, before Tom could open the door. Tom half turned and raised an eyebrow waiting for him to continue. Logan swallowed, but ploughed on, "Just who are you?"

"My friends call me Tom, my comrades know me as Parsel. You may address me as Sir, or Mr. Harrison." Tom stated as he opened the door and stepped through leading his speechless followers to the living room they had used earlier he motioned them to take a seat as he moved to stand next to his lover. Remy wore a grim smile as he gazed on his former teammates as they entered the room and sat on a deep blue love-seat. Tom walked over to his lover and and asked, "Are you ready to hear what they have to say?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Remy answered.

Tom gave him a slight smile as he moved to stand behind Remy's back, showing support but at the same time being unobtrusive. Remy caught Tom's hand in his, wanting the contact. Tom moved closer and whispered. "I'm not leaving. Just giving you a clear field for what you need to do."

Remy gave the hand a squeeze and drew it around his waist, "Can't blame me for wantin' you closer."

"Any closer and I'll need to take you back upstairs." Tom replied as he drew Remy closer and nibbled on his neck. Remy leaned into Tom's touch and closed his eyes, before Tom whispered, "We have guests."

"Right, guests." Remy breathed once Tom stopped. Remy opened his eyes and cleared his throat, before addressing his former teammates, "What brings the X-men to Cairo?"

"You say that like you aren't a part of the team." Storm replied.

Remy's face grew stony as he answered, "That would be 'cause Gambit ain't."

"You mean you left the team, when they told us you hadn't reported in I thought you might be in some kind of trouble, not .." Storm said in a quiet voice.

Remy tensed as he heard what Storm was saying and interrupted her, "Gambit didn't leave the team, the 'team' left Gambit! In Antarctica no less, sayin' .." Remy trailed off as his voice faltered, as the memory of his abandonment was brought to the forefront of his mind.

Tom tightened his hold on Remy and whispered into his ear, "_Easy, __**Remy, **__easy. We've gone through this, they were wrong. You were NOT the one responsible for that mess._" He waited until he felt Remy relax against him once more before conjuring a comfy recliner and sitting down with Remy in his lap. He addressed the others, "Explain what you meant, Ms. Munroe."

Logan started to object Tom's icy tone, "You can't," but stopped in mid-sentence as he felt a chill go down his spine once those green eyes focused solely on him.

"I can't what? Speak to her that way, believe me when I say that was spoken in a very polite tone considering the situation." Storm had never seen Logan back down before, and hadn't really expected him to now, so she was very surprised when he held his tongue. She turned to look at Remy once more as she heard Tom say, "Ms. Munroe, we are waiting."

Storm cleared her throat as she tried to find a place to start, "About a month ago, I had just returned to the institute after dropping the professor off at Moore island. When I asked where Remy was I was told that he had just left on a mission and would return in a week or two and that he had asked that I not contact him unless it was an emergency, due to the dangerousness of the mission. About the time he was due back I was called down to take care of tribe business in Kenya. I left a note with Jean to give to him when he returned, Logan had just gotten back from his cabin in the woods and decided to join me as my escort. We stayed down there until this morning, we were going to to stay the night in Cairo before heading back home. I called to check in with the team hoping I could speak to Remy and Scott told me that he wasn't there, and hadn't reported back in since he had left on the mission. I didn't want to believe it, and went outside to clear my head when I saw you two sitting in that café."

Tom watched Storm throughout her explanation, he saw her lick her lips as if she wanted to say something else, but wasn't sure if now was the time. He made that decision for her by saying, "So, you were told that he had left on a dangerous mission while you were away and not to contact him because of the danger. Then you are summoned to take care of your subjects in Kenya, and took Logan with you just as he returned from a jaunt at his cabin out in the middle of the woods. And only when you were going home did you try to contact Remy again, not directly but through the others again." Tom recited, before asking, "Is that right? Never once did you try to check your email, during all that time?"

"I did check it occasionally but was often called away from the computer by a student needing help, I remember seeing Rogue at my computer one time after I was called away. When I asked her what she was doing, she told me she was trying to help me out by taking care of my junkmail. When I looked at my inbox it was mostly empty except for bank statements and credit card reminders." She replied.

"That Bitch." Remy grumbled out as he realized what she had done.

Tom ran his hand down Remy's back, before asking, "Would she just delete them or forward them to her own account and attempt to break the encryption on them?"

"If she did that, she would need to bring in help. Most likely Warren, he could send it out to his father's business associates and pay enough cash to keep it quiet." Remy replied, bitterly.

"I'll have Eclipse check into it when she comes over tomorrow." Tom lifted Remy's chin so he could see his eyes, before saying, "Its alright, we'll figure this out together. You're not alone anymore."

Remy darted forward and covered Tom's lips with his own. Tom stifled a moan as he felt Remy's tongue enter his mouth, he ran his hand down Remy's back and grabbed his ass, before he took control of the kiss and chased Remy's tongue back into his own mouth. Remy brought his legs around to straddle Tom's waist while leaning into Tom making the chair start to recline, Remy moaned as he felt Tom's hard length against his own. Tom pulled away as he felt his control slipping, "we need to stop or I'll take you right here."

"and if I wanted you to?" Remy replied as he ran his hands under Tom's shirt and pressed himself closer.

Tom stifled a moan as he replied, "I won't deny you." He ran a hand under the loose shorts Remy was wearing and kneaded the firm buttocks, making Remy give a loud moan as he brushed over his entrance.

Storm turned her head away as she caught herself starring as Remy and Tom started making out in front of them, she had to agree with Logan's earlier statement, those two together really was hot. She tried to tune out the moans of pleasure the two were making. "I think we might want to leave the room." she whispered to Logan as she heard a particularly loud moan coming from her brother.

Logan tore his eyes away from the sight in front of him and nodded his head, "Yeah lets go, the kitchen looked safe enough." 'And I could really use a cold beer right now.' Logan thought to himself, as they quickly headed for the door, once it was closed Storm sank into a chair and fanned her face.

"Well that was," she stated as she regained her composure.

Logan just grunted as he opened the fridge, hoping to find a beer. He nearly groaned as he saw it only held the bare essentials, eggs, milk, juice, and a loan beer stood out next to a small pack of strawberries. Logan quickly took it and popped the top, before closing the door. He drank half of it down in one long gulp, before he sat at in the nearest chair.

"How are we going to know when its safe to go back out there?" Storm asked, just as they heard Remy cry out, 'Oh Gods, TOM.'

"I think we can figure it out." Logan replied as he banged his head on the table.

**Back in the living room**

Remy felt Tom brush over his entrance and gave a loud moan before he brought his hand down to undo Tom's zipper. Once Tom was released he couldn't hold back any longer and banished their clothes, and started preparing his lover. He changed the chair they were in to a bed with silk sheets. Remy gasped as he felt their surface change and he felt cool silk sheets against his heated skin. Tom grabbed a handful of the silk and lightly ran it down Remy's chest making him arch and gasp into the touch. He moved the silk lower and grasped Remy's cock, Remy cried out, "Oh Gods, TOM." as the incredible feeling of Tom stroking him through the cool silk, coupled with Tom's fingers against his pleasure spot, caused him to orgasm. "Tom...mmm...want... inside me..." Remy gasped out as Tom continued to pleasure him. Tom removed his fingers, and slid inside his love in one long stroke. "YES!!.." Remy shouted, as Tom entered him. Tom moaned loudly as he the tight heat surround him once more. Tom could only hold still for a moment, before he withdrew almost completely and plunged back in again, causing Remy to shout out in pleasure with each stroke.

Tom let out a low hiss of _**"MINE,"**_ as he felt his orgasm threatening, he moved his hand over Remy's cock in time with his strokes.

"Yours...Only yours..." Remy managed to gasp out as Tom sped up, Tom's eyes flashed for a moment before he released his seed deep inside his love. "TOM!" Remy shouted as he felt Tom explode inside him moments before coming himself.

Tom gently kissed Remy as he slipped out and cast cleansing charms over themselves, Remy curled into Tom's side as he felt himself drifting off into a sated slumber and mumbled out, "love you." into Tom's neck.

Tom gazed down at his now peacefully napping mate, and smiled as he tightened his hold on him, before whispering, "Love you, too." Tom was contemplating taking a nap himself when he was reminded of his 'guests' by a soft voice calling out for Remy. As the kitchen door moved, he gave a slight twist of his wrist and threw a summoned Slytherin dagger at the wall near it, effectively causing the door to slam close in a hurry. He gave a soft sigh as he felt Remy jolt himself awake at the loud sound, and said, "Sorry love, didn't mean to wake you."

It took a moment for Remy to process what Tom was talking about, before he remembered that despite his being on a bed, they were still in the livingroom and still had company. He saw the dagger embedded in the wall across the room and looked back at Tom and asked, "What happened?"

"Someone tried to enter the room before we were ready, so I made them go away." Tom replied as he stole one last kiss, before getting out of the bed and located their shorts from earlier.

Remy took the pair Tom handed him and put them on before saying, "Good, cause I don't share very well." as he placed his hands on Tom's waist.

"Neither do I." Tom replied, gazing at his lover.

**Back in the kitchen**

Storm and Logan tried not to pay attention to the various moans, and shouts of pleasure they could hear through the closed door. Storm walked around opening and closing various cabinets, hoping to find something she could cook, so the sounds would be drowned out by the various pots and pans. Logan was relieved that while he could still hear what was happening in the room, he could no longer smell it through the door. He drank his beer down slower as he tuned the sounds out like he used to when he had his own apartment on the wrong side of town. He watched Storm moving around the kitchen, before she threw her hands in the air and said, "I give up, theres barely any food in here, let alone enough ingredients to make anything edible."

"I'm sure they won't be much longer." Logan stated as he looked at his watch, and saw that it had already been a half hour. Another ten minutes later they heard a particularly loud shout of 'TOM' before silence met their ears. Storm let out a relieved sigh, as she waited another few more minutes to give them time to dress, before she headed for the door.

Logan grabber her arm before she reached it and said, "Unless you want to see them naked, I suggest you wait a little longer for them to get cleaned up and dressed."

Storm glared at Logan and tapped her foot, waiting for him to move out of her way. "Don't say I didn't warn you." he said as he released her.

Storm paused at the door and put her ear against it, when she still heard only silence she eased it open called out, "Remy, you decent in there?" as she didn't receive a reply she called a little louder and poked her head out, "Remy?" She quickly withdrew back inside the door moments before a dagger embedded itself in the wall where her head had been.

"Guess thats a no," Logan chuckled, as he saw the stunned look on Storm's face.

Storm continued staring in stunned silence, before the sound of Logan chuckling brought her back to the present, "Thats not funny. I could have been killed."

"Had I wanted to kill you, I would have done it earlier." Tom replied as he appeared in the doorway, tying his hair back in a loose ponytail, the dagger that been in the wall could be faintly seen strapped to his right forearm. A few hickeys stood out on his neck, and across his bare chest.

Remy stepped into the room after him, his own lovebites standing out on the tanned skin of his chest, neck and shoulder. His hair was mussed, his red eyes bright behind half closed lids, he wore a slight grin, as he stated, "You said almost the same thing to me when we first met."

"So I did." Tom replied, as he pulled Remy into a gentle kiss.

Storm couldn't help but stare as the two became entwined once again. Maybe it was the Tom carried himself, the sense of barely restrained power and hidden secrets, the dagger on his arm did nothing to dispel the notion the made her think of a warrior prince you read about in a romance novel. She broke out of her thoughts and asked, "Just how did you two meet, that would make him say that to you, Remy?"

Tom ended the kiss, and replied, "Thats a good question, would you like to answer it or should I, love?"

"You go ahead, I'll jump in should you forget something." Remy replied, silently pleading with his eyes, not to make him talk about his abandonment.

Tom gave a slight nod in agreement and said, "Alright, I'll get dinner started while I explain, lest you distract me again."

"You need any help?" Remy asked not really wanting to sit at the table and endure the questioning looks from his friends.

"Sure, you can get some water boiling for the corn." Tom replied as he tried to take a step further into the kitchen, before saying, "If you don't mind, we would like to get passed."

Storm and Logan retreated to their seats, as they waited for Tom to give his explanation. Tom went over to the fridge and pulled out a number of steaks, potatoes, and corn cobs. While Remy made his way to the sink with a large pot and began filling it up with water. "I was taking a drive like I normally do when I saw a place that I knew wasn't supposed to be there. Hearing voices coming my direction I hid myself and waited to see what was going on. That was the first time I saw Remy, he was bruised and had several cuts across his face and hands and he had a chained collar around his neck. They pushed him to his knees as another group of people came into view, they had arrived in a jet. The first set started taunting the new group, asking if the x-men had come to rescue their murdering thief. They removed the chains and left the area, after saying they would leave his punishment to his teammates."

Remy heard Tom start to tell what had happened to him, as he watched the water filling the pot. Tom turned off the water and held him close while he told the most painful part.

"A man with a red visor across his face stepped forward from the new arrivals and spoke to Remy, he told him that he was no longer an xman and had the rest of the group get back inside the jet. Remy tried to reason with them, but was cut off by the one called Rogue, she told him he was nothing but a liar and that it was best he die out there where he couldn't hurt anyone else, before she flew off into the jet. I watched as he called out to the leaving aircraft, saying what happened to the past is the past, before he gave up and huddled inside his coat for warmth. I knew he wouldn't last the night in his condition, so I took him to my home and doctored him up. He was wary of me at first as can be expected, so I told him had I wanted to kill him, I would have just left him to die like the others had. He was adamant that his friends would make the team come back for him, and I told him that was fine and we would talk more after he had eaten."

Tom gently kissed Remy on his forehead before asking, "Did I leave anything important out?"

"Just the fact that it was Magneto that had held me captive, in the first place." he answered as Tom stroked his hand across his cheek.

Logan and Storm stared at them in disbelief, before Logan asked, "And just where did all this take place, that you just happened to be passing by?"

"Around 50miles from the south pole." Tom replied, not taking his eyes off his lover. "I try to see how close I can get to the pole every other week or so, before I'm called back to care of some business or other for my clan."

"You telling us that you live in the fuckin' arctic?" Logan questioned skeptically.

"Antarctic actually, but yes, that was my most recent place of residence. Up until two days ago, anyway." Tom replied, as he and Remy stepped away from each other and finished the dinner preparations. "We actually arrived here because of clan business, otherwise you would have missed us by a week."

"So, you saved his life and now you're both together?" Storm asked with slight trepidition, she really hoped that Tom wasn't just using her brother as some sex object until his debt was fulfilled.

Tom studied Storm for a moment before answering, "Yes, essentially."

"And you agreed to this Remy, to be with him in exchange for helping you." Storm questioned angrily as she misunderstood the situation.

Remy grabbed ahold of Tom's arm as he saw him tense and take a step towards Storm. "How could you even think that?" Remy asked anger lacing his voice. Tom stepped back and gently held Remy against his chest in comfort.

"Remy, I, its not like it would be the first time you slept with someone for a job." Storm began to say.

Remy flinched, but stated, "Yes, it would be. I never slept with anyone before on a job or otherwise."

"But.."

Remy ignored Storm's interruption and continued, "No, I would chat them up, and take them home and slip a mikey into their drinks, so I could get what I needed and get out. I'm a thief, not some kind of whore, like Creed tried to make me into. Are you happy now that you know the truth of why I'm so hesistant to allow others around me."

"I'm so sorry, Remy. I never would have said such a thing had I known.."

"Didn't want you to know, didn't want anyone to know."

Logan couldn't help but ask, "But what about Rogue, and your wife?"

"What about them, my wife and I have an agreement that the marriage would be in name only, as for Rogue. I only flirted with her and took her out to see a few places she never would have gone by herself. Everyone just assumed we were in a relationship including her, and I wasn't about to say otherwise, since it kept anyone else from pursuing me."

"Remy, I can accept that you're with a male, I'm just concerned that he might be using you for his own reasons." Storm stated choosing her words carefully as the green eyes fixed on her again.

"So, you think no one would want me for myself. That I'm only good for fucking and thieving, is that it Stormy."

"NO, no thats not what I meant, I .."

"Sure sounded like it to me. Send them back to the dungeons Tom, I'm done talking with them for now."

"As you wish." Tom stated, before hissed to the wards, "_**send visitors to the lower dungeons. **_You alright, love?" Tom asked in concern as he held his mate.

Remy leaned into Tom's touch and stated, "Been better, how am I going to tell them about my part in the massacre if they can't get past my being with you?"

"I'll take care of it."

"How?"

"By having monitors in their cells play back footage from our time in Antarctica. You can help me to select the parts they see, so I don't show them anything you don't want them to know." Tom said as he called up a security monitor at the table and set to work, with Remy once more in his lap.

"Worth a shot, I suppose." Remy said as he helped Tom select certain scenes to play to their now prisoners. As he came to the one that ended with Tom laying him on the bed in his room, Remy's heart started beating faster as he had it cut off after Tom had joined him on the bed. "They don't need to see us sleeping." he said as he saw Tom give him a curious look.

"No, they don't." Tom said as he organized several of the security tapes to play on a different monitor. And edited out any dealings that showed a goblin, and any mention of the word goblin was changed to clan, and humans to outsiders. He left the part of his being a wizard on the tapes but only parts of the first conversation remained, so it didn't reveal too much about his own past, especially his old identity.

**Dungeons**

**Lower level**

Storm and Logan just stared at Remy as he ordered Tom to send them back to the dungeons. Before they could protest they heard Tom give a long hiss, and felt disoriented before finding themselves in separate slightly smaller cells now. "Damn it Storm whats wrong with you, even I could tell that Tom wouldn't do that to Remy."

"He has dungeons, Logan. What kind of man has dungeons inside his house. I just don't like it, it all seems so contrived. Remy is captured by Magneto, and brought to Antarctica where they leave him with our teammates who just leave him there. Then this Tom guy just happens along and witnesses it, takes Remy to his home, heals him and now they are together. Its not like him to just trust someone so soon, it took over a year for him to trust any of the team."

"And look what happened." Said a voice from above their heads, as a huge monitor took up a wall in each of their cells, and played back Tom's memory of the team's betrayel, along with what happened in the security room the next day and over the next few weeks that they stayed together.

Storm and Logan watched as they heard Remy tell Tom more about himself in the first hour of his stay, than they had ever known about over the last three years. They saw the footage of Sinister revealing that while Storm was right in that his abandonment was mostly a setup, Tom wasn't the one that did it. They heard Remy say he would rather stay with Tom then go back to Sinister, and watched as Tom caused a fire to envelope a metal box that supposidly held the tracking device and suppressor they didn't even Remy had in the first place. They saw them tour the house, as Tom informed Remy of where all he was allowed to go before he went off to do some work. The screens split to show Tom in his office and Remy looking around a massive library before shaking his head and just wondering around until he settled on a couch and started watching tv. They barely breathed as they heard Remy say, "Remy, will pay you back for all your help." Remy avoided looking in Tom's eyes.

"Don't worry about it I doubt you'll even make a dent in my accounts even if I let you buy a sports car everyday for a month. Now theres a thought." Tom trailed off in a mumble.

"What?"

Tom shook his head, "Its nothing really, Sometime next month I will have three new houses built and furnished in Egypt, Brazil, and New York. The last things that are brought in are the vehicles because my clan needs to bring in outsiders to drive them. I was thinking if you really wanted to pay me back for anything you might spend, I could have the clan stop after the first vehicle is delivered and have you help me pick out the others. What do you say?"

"Wait, does that mean we don't have to stay here? We could leave here at any time?" Remy asked deep in thought.

Tom sighed, "Yes and no." Remy looked up puzzled. " Yes I could take you anywhere at anytime you wanted. But then we have to deal with customs, and having proper ids ready for inspection. Now when my homes are done I can get Gringotts to make a portkey for us making them do all the paperwork and any documents ready for us upon arrival. Since we would be landing at a private residence we wouldn't need to answer any questions if someone saw us before we were ready. So what do you think? Do you want to go with me? I will need to send in the paperwork by tomorrow to get everything squared away for the next month if you're going. I'll be in the kitchen making lunch while you decide."

Remy stood there for a moment in silence before walking into the kitchen and saying, "What kind of information you be needing to get those ids?"

Tom looked up from making sandwiches, "You going then."

"Oui."

The attraction between the two men became pronounced as they watched them spar against each other, then eat dinner before going to bed. The next few scenes showed that Sinister's team was still out there looking for Remy's body. They continued to watch as Tom and Remy spent most of the morning apart, each doing their own thing until Remy went to Tom and asked him to check over his work. Like he had done several times at the mansion, Remy offered to come back later, when he saw Tom take a call, but was stopped as Tom had him sit back down and checked over his work, while he continued with his conversation. Tom gave Remy his full attention once he was done with his call, and went on to give a few pointers before offering to read it to see how much Remy understood. Remy replied, "Sure, but don't you have more work to do?"

Tom laughed, "Thats a good question, but I'm afraid its not getting answered. Before he went ahead and had read out the paper, and praised Remy on a job well done. Before asking, "Would you like to use the computer since you're here, while I finish up these reports?" he then started sucking on his candy again.

"Oui. Remy was thinking bout that earlier." Remy answered getting up from his chair and moving towards the desk.

Tom held back a smile as he said, "Bring your chair around, unless you want to sit on my lap. Either ways fine with me." He was rewarded with a blush before Remy went back to get his chair.

"Maybe next time Mon Ami. Don't want to distract you from your work, too much."

Tom quirked an eyebrow and smirked slightly, "Maybe I should finish my work then. So you can't distract me, anymore." before finishing his work as Remy brought up his email account and typed out a letter. Once Tom was done with his work he helped Remy order a new duster, by taking his measurements. It was obvious Remy was nervous at having Tom so close but at the same time they could see that he wanted him closer. Tom lead Remy to speaking about his where he had come from and said maybe he could show him around sometime. Before backtracking and saying it was only a thought, and he didn't have to if he didn't want to.

Remy corrected him and started telling Tom that he was banished from the city. They watched as Tom offered Remy comfort as he told him about his growing up in the thieve's guild and what had lead up to his being killed on sight should he ever return. They saw Tom take a sleeping Remy upstairs to his room, and lay him on the bed through the open door and try to leave, only to be stopped by Remy holding onto him before he gave up and lied down in the bed as far away as the arms around his neck would allow, only to have Remy curl up against him before he to fell asleep.

The scene changed to show them sitting at the table having a late lunch and Tom watched a monitor of Sinister's group before telling Remy about what he had just seen. Logan stared in awe as Tom changed a small object into a desk, then a live pig, before making it fall over. As they saw Tom inject the pig with a substance after putting some nailclippings inside it. Storm let out an exclaimation of "Oh, my God." as the pig changed into a duplicate of her brother, the resembelance between them growing as Tom continued to give the body injections. Once Tom was done he had Remy dress it in his old clothes, before spiriting the double out of the building and reappearing seconds later and playfully covering Remy's eyes and asking "guess who?" making Remy jump back into him.

The next few scenes showed Tom and Remy acting like old friends, they would play games against each other, spar, and talk about their pasts. They even had races on the snowmobiles once the monitors showed that Sinister had left with the double. They even gave a slight chuckle when Tom started the snowball fight. Seeing Remy so carefree and happy, made Storm realize although Remy had stayed with her at the institute and interacted with the others, he never was really happy there. The monitors stopped playing at that point and the two xmen were left alone with only their thoughts to occupy them.

**Back upstairs**

"Well the monitors have stopped playing, how long do you want to give them to think before we let them back out?" Tom asked Remy, who was sitting across from him and sorting through the new deliveries they had just received, while he finished off a letter to Victor concerning their new team.

Remy looked up from an official looking letter addressed to himself, and answered, "About the time dinner's ready I guess." Remy held up the letter and asked, "This what I think it is?"

Tom looked at the letter and saw the Gringott's crest on it and nodded, "That would be your new bank cards and statements. I'll start up dinner in again in a little while that should give them an hour to think things over."

"Fine with me."

"Remy, are you sure you're alright?"

"No," Remy sighed before he crossed the room and sat in Tom's lap, as Tom's arms went around him asked, "How did you manage to make it through your school years knowing that your friends were betraying you?"

"Ah, I got through that by knowing my clan would always be there for me, but as you noticed at the encampment I still haven't completely gotten over it. Oleander and Eclipse also helped to ground me when I was at school, when we would train in secret. They don't know that I was Harry either, but they trust Parsel because Harry told them to."

"So, I'm pretty much on my own in this."

"No, no you're not on your own, I will always be there for you, and so will my clan. And you never know, now that they have seen for themselves that you aren't in the wrong and that I'm not using you, they might come around and ask for your forgiveness."

"But it won't be the same way it was before."

"True, it won't ever be that way again, and if they don't accept you as you are now, then they didn't deserve to be your friends in the first place." Tom picked up Remy and carried him out of the room, as he passed by the kitchen he cast some charms to start the side dishes cooking, before heading to the door outside.

"Where we goin'?" Remy asked as Tom headed for the large glass sliding door in the kitchen.

"I'm taking you outside and we are going to have some fun. Now which would you rather do, go flying or swimming?" Tom asked as he set Remy down in the middle of an oasis.

The oasis was roughly the size of two football fields, filled with lush green grass and several palm and olive trees shaded the area from the sun. In the middle of the area was a small lake about 50yards from end to end, Remy could see small colorful fish swimming around inside the lake. "How would I fly?" Remy asked curiously.

"Remember how I told you I could change into an animal, well my animal can fly so you would be riding on my back."

"This I gotta see." Remy said, as he waited for Tom to transform.

Tom took a few steps away from Remy and chuckled before saying, "Alright, just stay there until I tell you otherwise."

Remy watched in fascination as Tom grew taller and his skin turned into shiny golden scales, two small horns grew out of his head as it took on a more serpentine appearance, a long tail and huge golden leathery wings appeared out of Tom's back, as his feet and hands took on a taloned appearance. Tom's green eyes were slitted and shone like emeralds in the sunlight. "Beautiful," Remy breathed as the fifteen foot dragon gazed at him.

Tom waited a few moments to give Remy the chance to get used to his new appearance, before he lowered his head to Remy's level and hissed out, "_Are you ready to fly?"_

'Damn he still turns me one, even when he doesn't look human.' Remy thought to himself as he nodded his head and said, "Oui, how should I mount you?"

Tom gave a serpentine grin as he smelled the arousal coming from his lover, and heard him groan as he heard his own words. "_Just hold on to my hand, and I'll place you on my back."_ Tom said as he held out a five fingered taloned hand to Remy. Remy held onto Tom as he felt the talons close around his waist, before he was lifted into the air and set gently down onto Tom's back between the wings. From his new vantage point Remy noticed black ridge markings going down Tom's back and ending at the foot of his tail. "_Place your arms around my neck and hold yourself upright by squeezing your legs together like you would when riding a horse."_

Remy complied with Tom's instructions and said, "OK, ready." 'I think.' he thought to himself.

"_Then we're off."_ Tom said as he took a running leap and snapped his wings out catching the breeze under then before beating them up and down as he gained altitude. He took a circular route instead of his normal straight up approach, so he didn't make Remy get frightened and fall off on accident. Remy held on tight and closed his eyes as he felt Tom jump into the air, he wasn't afraid of heights, but this was something else entirely. "_Open your eyes, love and look around. I won't let you fall."_ Tom hissed over his shoulder as he finished climbing and just set about circling his property.

Remy cracked an eye open, the view of the sunsetting off to the west, making the waterfall shine a rainbow across the oasis took his breath away. "How high up are we, Tom?" Remy asked not sure if Tom could hear him over the sound of the wind.

"_We're only about 1600 feet up, right now. Would you like me to go higher or faster?" _Tom replied as he held himself steady gently beating his wings to keep him roughly in place.

"Sure, show me what you can do." Remy said back, causing Tom to chuckle before he beat his wings faster and circled higher speeding up only slightly with each circuit he made

As Tom reached 5000 feet up he pulled to a stop in midair and called back, "_hold on tight!"_ before he tucked his wings in and went into a steep dive. Remy watched as the ground got closer and closer at very fast rate, when they where about level with the house, Tom did a barrel-roll before he suddenly shot out his wings again and skimmed along the ground making the water in the nearby lake ripple as he flew just above it. Tom swiveled his head around and looked back at Remy as he landed. _"You okay back there?"_

Remy had a goofy grin on his face on he replied, "Now that was fun. Can we do it again?"

Tom let out a deep chuckle that vibrated through Remy's entire body, Remy moaned and said, "Or you could just keep doing that."

"_Maybe later, love. Its time for us to go back into house and finish with the cooking."_ Tom said, as he reached back and set Remy down on the ground once more before changing back to his human form. Remy winced as he tried to stand on his own, Tom noticed the wince and gently picked up his lover. "Leg cramp?" he asked.

"You're going to spoil me, carrying me around all the time."

Tom just shook his head and replied, "You deserve to be spoiled a little, besides this is only another excuse for me to hold you close."

"If you insist." Remy said as he snuggled deeper into Tom's chest. Tom gave a deep rumbling laugh as he set Remy down once they had reached the back porch and grill. Tom gave a smirk before he breathed fire and set the wood alight.

"So just what kind of dragon are you?" Remy asked as he sat on a nearby bench while Tom summoned the steaks from inside the house.

"Not sure actually, the closest one that I resemble is called the Peruvian Vipertooth, but it doesn't have the same type of taloned hands, five fingered dragons are only found in the Orient and are symbols of the emperor. I tried to ask an actual dragon down at the lower levels of the bank and they only said I was blessed and that I had their support in all I will do, then bowed to me. Gets quite irritating when people keep answering me like that."

"Maybe you should take trip to China or Japan and see what the dragons over there have to say about your form." Remy suggested.

"Not in a hurry to find out, the last thing I need for them to tell me is, I'm the rightful emperor or something like that." Tom replied as he turned the steaks.

"We eatin' inside or outside?" Remy asked, as the smell of the steaks made his mouth water.

Tom thought about for a moment as he looked at the sky. "Inside, the temperature will be dropping soon." he said as he took the steaks off the grill and piled them onto a plate he carried inside. Tom set it on the table as he had bacon start cooking on the stove by itself. He took placed the corn cobs on the table next to some butter and had the baked potatoes join them on the table. Once the bacon was done cooking it was set next to the potatoes. "Now we can go and get the others. If they're smart, they will keep to polite conversation while we eat."

"Normally I would say that wouldn't be a problem, but now I'm not so sure." Remy replied as he followed Tom down into the dungeons.

"Are you ready to behave, now?" Tom asked, as they approached the appropriate cells. "Because dinner is waiting if you are."

"We," Storm began but was cut off by Logan who said, "We'll behave."

Remy chuckled at Wolverines immediate compliance, 'Trust Wolvie to agree immediately if theres food involved, he can probably smell it all the way down here.' he thought to himself. "Go ahead and release 'em, Tom. They know what'l happen now, should they try our patience."

"You're starting to sound like me, love. Should I be worried the next time we spar?" Tom joked, as he let the wards on each cell release their prisoner.

Remy chuckles as he replied, "Maybe, Ragnok was giving me pointers while you were participating in the tournament."

"I better be on my guard then." Tom answered with an easy grin, as they walked back up the way they had come, their 'guests' trailing behind them in silence. Tom and Remy sat at the table next to each other and started to serve themselves. Tom had just poured out some elfin wine when he noticed that while Logan was practically drooling at the site of the steaks, he and Storm had yet to sit down. "Are you joining us, or not?" Tom asked,as he motioned to the empty place settings.

"More for us if they don't." Remy chuckled next to Tom as he ate a piece of his steak, he closed his eyes and savored the flavor, as the juicy steak practically melted in his mouth."Gods, thats good."

Logan couldn't stand it anymore and took a seat, he made himself a plate and took a large bite of the meat and let out a low moan at the taste, "that is good."

"Can I talk to you, Remy?" Storm asked, from her place against the wall. Remy nodded his head, as he continued to eat. "Privately?"

Remy swallowed his mouthful and said, "No, if you can't say it infront of Tom than I don't want to hear it. Besides I'm eating."

"It'll only take a moment." Storm tried again.

Remy just shook his head as he cut open his potato, he set three pieces of bacon on his plate a pat of butter, before saying, "Tom, you mind?"

Tom glanced at Remy's plate and gave a small smile before he made the bacon crumble and butter melt, and mix itself into the potato. "Better?" he asked.

"Much, Merci mon amoureux." Remy replied as he took a bite.

Storm took a seat in defeat and finally started to serve herself. "You really don't trust us anymore,do you?" she asked quietly.

Remy gave a half shrug as he sipped some of his wine, "Should I?"

"Yes you should, we're your family."

"My family, you know I thought that once too, but real family wouldn't believe what you did about me."

"What was I supposed to think, when you return to the mansion late at night or just before dawn, with lipstick on your collar.

"She's got a point, I could smell you coming up the drive covered in the smell of smoke, tobacco, booze and cheap perfume."

"But not sex, I never once smelt of sex the entire time you knew me, did I Logan?"

Logan paused for a moment as he thought back, 'did he ever smell of sex? Arousal, yes, masturbation, rarely, but sex?' "No. I guess I was wrong about you."

"And you were supposed to think, That I went to a smoky bar, had a few drinks and played a few hands of cards while some woman tried to help the other players cheat, by distracting me." Remy replied in complete seriousness. "Just like when I would take you with me when you were de-aged."

Storm looked down guiltily as she remembered the times Remy was talking about. "I'm sorry, so, so, sorry. Can you ever forgive us?"

"Depends, have you two forgiven me for what I did in the past? For my role in the massacre that lead me to being left in Antarctica? Or will you agree with the rest of the x-men and have nothing to do with me anymore?"

"There's nothin' in your past for me to forgive, Gumbo. You did what you had to do and survived the only way you knew how, I can understand that and I respect you for it." Logan said in a rare moment solemnity.

"And what about you, Stormy? Am I still your brother?"

"Oh, Remy you will always be my brother. I don't know why I ever doubted you in the first place." Storm replied, half standing up to give Remy a hug, before sitting back down as she remembered Remy telling them not to touch him. "Can I give you a hug now?"

Remy shook his head, "We might have forgiven each other, but it won't be like it was before. Besides you still have yet to apologize to Tom for thinking the worst of him."

"Don't bother, you won't mean it." Tom said before he stood up from his seat. "If you are done, I'll show you to your rooms for the night."

"Tom, you alright?" Remy asked in concern over his suddenly abrupt manner, as they made their way towards the stairs, Storm and Logan following behind them.

"Just tired, love. It took a lot out of me to keep the truth serum going through their systems, especially Logan's" Tom replied in a whisper once they had reached the top of the stairs.

"Logan this is your room, Storm yours is this one." Tom stated as he opened the appropriate doors as he mentioned the names. "If you feel the need to wander, know that you are restricted to the kitchen and living room only. Should you go into any other room you will be sent back to the dungeons until I fetch you in the morning. Have a nice night." he said before pulling Remy into a deep kiss, and made his way to his own room, leaving the door open in invitation for his lover.

"See ya'll in the mornin', Remy be feelin' tired all a sudden." Remy said quickly as he licked his lips and made his way to Tom's room.

"Tired, sure." Logan muttered as he smelt the arousal coming off the Cajun as he entered the same room as Tom had and closed the door behind himself. Storm shook her head at Logan's remark and said, "Goodnight, Logan."

"Night 'Ro, you're welcome to join me in my room if you like." Logan asked suddenly.

"I'll keep that in mind, but I'm sure I'll be alright on my own." she replied before going into the room Tom had indicated she was to use. Logan stared after her for a second before going into his own room and closing the door, 'that was a maybe later, right' he thought to himself as he got undressed and began preparing for bed.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own what I own and don't what I don't.

Tom woke spooned behind Remy, he gently lifted his head from where it lay on the pillow and smiled as he saw the peaceful look on his loves face as he slept on. Tom kissed Remy's neck, as he gently slid out of the bed and made his way to the shower. Remy slowly woke to the sound of running water, he sat up in the bed as he heard it turn off and smiled as he saw Tom enter the room drying his hair with a towel. Noticing Remy was awake,Tom walked over to the bed and gave him a deep kiss before saying, "Morning love."

Remy responded to the kiss and pulled Tom down on top of him. As they broke apart Remy breathed, "Mm, mornin'. What time is it?"

"Five, thought you might like to watch the sunrise." Tom replied as he ran his hand down Remy's side through the silk sheets. Remy gasped as Tom nibbled on his earlobe and moved his hand lower.

"Mmm, ...whatever.... you want.....mmm.....just ...gods....don't stop." Remy managed to say as Tom stroked him through the sheet and started kissing his way down his body.

Tom smothered a chuckle as he sucked a pert nibble into his mouth making Remy moan loudly. "But if I don't stop, then I couldn't do this." Tom said as he dipped his tongue into Remy's bellybutton, making him gasp at the new sensation. "Or this," he continued as he licked over Remy's shaft making Remy buck his hips before he took him into his mouth properly.

"Tom...gods...mmm.....Oohh..." Remy moaned out as Tom sucked on him. Tom entered Remy with his fingers and quickly located his pleasure spot, making him come as he shouted out. "GODS TOM!!"

Tom gently removed his fingers, and licked his lips as he felt Remy tremble with aftershocks. He moved to enter Remy but was stopped by Remy's hand on his chest, "Something wrong love?" Tom asked, as he backed away slightly.

"Nothings wrong," Remy replied, he quickly continued as he saw Tom looking at him in confusion. "I just, can I taste you first?"

Tom's cock gave a twitch at the very thought of that mouth on him, he swallowed hard and replied, "Sure, if thats what you want."

Remy nodded his head as he moved closer to Tom's jutting erection, he tentatively gave it a lick making Tom shudder at the touch. Remy took another lick as Tom started leaking precum, it tasted sweet and salty at the same time. Tom tried not to move as Remy teased him with his tongue, once Remy took his tip into his mouth he let out a long moan, and held the headboard for support. Remy was driving him crazy with his languorous licks and slow movements along his shaft. He could feel the cords standing out on his neck as he got out, "_Pleassse__, __**love**__... __I can't take__...__**much**__more__...__you have__... __to.... sssstop__." _ Remy let out a moan around Tom's member as he heard him speak in a mixture of hisses and partial English. "_GODSsss_..._**REMY,**_" Tom bit his lip as he felt his control slipping, he quickly removed himself from Remy's mouth, and drew him into a deep kiss as he came hard.

"Mmm, Tom" Remy gasped out as Tom bucked against his own hard member, the sensation of Tom coming against him coupled with Tom's tongue thrusting into his mouth caused Remy to come for a second time.

Tom had one hand on the wall and the other holding Remy against him as they both shuddered with aftershocks, "Enjoy your taste love?" Tom panted against his shoulder.

"Oui, ….did you?" Remy breathed out hesitantly.

"I think its pretty obvious that I enjoyed it very much, love." Tom replied, as he kissed Remy's neck, and unstuck their sperm covered bodies.

"Right, mmm, we still watchin' the sunrise, or did we miss it?" Remy asked as he arched his neck, giving Tom better access.

Tom stopped kissing Remy's neck, "So you weren't just agreeing with me." he teased, as he cast cleansing charms over them both and moved to stand next to the bed. "We still have time."

Remy colored slightly as he remembered his words from earlier, Remy stuck his tongue out at Tom as he made his way to the bathroom, he heard Tom chuckle before he closed the door. 'Gods, now I know how all those girls felt, when I would tease them.' Remy thought as he went through his morning routine. He emerged from the bathroom to find Tom sitting on the window ledge, dressed in a pair of blue jeans, his hair pulled back with a blue ribbon.

Tom licked his lips at the sight of his lover dressed only in a towel, before turning to look out the window. "Do you know how tempting you look like that, love?" Tom asked as he dangled his feet out the window.

"About as tempting as you did earlier." Remy replied as he dug into the drawers and pulled out a pair of jeans for himself. Putting them on he asked, "Aren't we goin' downstairs?"

"Thought we'd take a shortcut," Tom replied as he dropped out the window and transformed, he hovered just outside it and said, "_Hop on."_

When Tom first fell out the window Remy darted towards it in fear, that was quickly replaced by relief as he saw Tom in his dragon form. "You're gonna give me a heart attack doing stuff like that." he shouted over the wind as he climbed onto Tom's back.

"_Doing stuff like what?"_ Tom hissed over his shoulder.

"Falling out windows, almost getting your head chopped off in a tournament, getting stabbed in the chest." Remy listed off as they flew higher.

"_The second two really couldn't be helped."_ Tom replied before flying faster and stopping just over the waterfall, as the sun started to peak over the horizon. Remy could only stare at the picturesque scene infront of him as they hovered a mile above ground.

Tom circled into a landing, and gently placed Remy on the ground next to him, _"Ah, now this is nice."_ he said as he lay down on the grass, enjoying the heat of the sun against his scales.

"Aren't you going to transform back, now that we're done flying?" Remy asked quietly, moving to sit against Tom's side.

Tom moved his arms to encircle Remy and placed his head on his lap as he hissed out, _"I will in a minute or two, "_

"What if the others see you like this?"

Tom sighed before shifting back into his human form, "Would it bother you if they found out about my form?" he asked as he sat up behind Remy.

"No, I just don't want them to shoot first and ask questions later in an attempt to save me from you." Remy said as he leaned back against Tom's chest.

"Good point." Tom replied as he summoned a picnic basket from the kitchen, opening it he asked, "Care for some breakfast? I made your favorite."

Remy looked over to the basket Tom had just opened and grinned when he saw it held, strawberry crepes with whipped cream, and a mug of his favorite coffee. "I think I might be able to eat a few." he said as he took the morsel Tom handed him. "Haven't had any this good since I left home."

"We could visit your home, if you wanted." Tom said quietly, as he sipped his coffee.

"But the guilds.." Remy started as he turned to face Tom.

"Will listen to you. You are the leader of the thieves guild, regardless of the banishment you are still the leader." Tom said as he looked into Remy's eyes, "Its beyond time to renew the treaty anyway, so you should be there to make sure the assassins don't take advantage of your continued absence."

"I suppose, but what if my being there only makes things worse?"

"You have a shaky peace as it is, if a new treaty isn't drawn up soon it'll still be back to the way it was before. Besides I don't think you really killed her brother, I think it was all a setup to get you out of the way and have your wife be the sole leader, because she would supposedly stay in contact with you and follow your instructions for the guilds."

"But if that was true than..."

"Than your banishment is false, and since you haven't been in contact with your wife in over seven years than you are considered to be divorced by common law." Remy stared at Tom in shock as he tried to process what Tom had told him. "I looked it up." Tom finished as he placed a strawberry in Remy's open mouth.

"Why did you look it up?" Remy asked, once he had finished chewing.

Tom shrugged as he answered, "I have my reasons."

"And thats a real law, in this world?"

"Yes love, its real in this world. You've been single for around three years now." Tom replied, as he gently kissed Remy's lips. "Shall I start making the arrangements for our visit then?"

"What about your work?" Remy asked, as he laid down beside Tom.

Tom gently stroked a finger down Remy's side as he answered, "You're more important than work. But to keep my clan happy I will give them a notice about my being available for emergencies, and immediate responses only."

"You've already thought this out haven't you?" Remy asked as he traced patterns across Tom's chest.

"More or less." Tom said as he pulled Remy closer, and kissed his neck. "I try not to plan ahead too much since I rarely follow them anyway." Tom stopped suddenly as he heard a buzzing from the wards and turned to look in the direction of the house, his gaze darkened as he saw two people heading towards the glass doors. "Looks like your friends have finally realized we're not in my room."

Remy pouted as he said, "Spoilsports."

"Couldn't agree more, but they are leaving today remember."

"But then your friends will be over."

"Ah, but my friends will only be over for a few hours, and spend most of that time figuring out what happened to your emails. While we sit back and relax."

"I think I like your friends already." Remy said with a smile.

Tom just chuckled as he wondered what Remy would say when he actually met Eclipse. "We'll see if you still think that after you meet them properly." Remy gave Tom a curious look but Tom just shook his head and said, "I don't want to ruin the surprise."

"There you are," Storm said as she spotted Tom and Remy lying on the grass with a basket near them. "We've been trying to find you all morning. Why are you outside?"

"Considering its only after seven, thats not very long." Tom muttered as he took in the position of the sun.

"Not that its really any of your business but, we were having a sunrise picnic." Remy stated as he poured himself a cup of still hot coffee. "Now, what you be needin' us for?"

"A picnic, right." Logan cleared his throat and said, "Uh, you got a phone we can use? We need to call the others and give them coordinates to pick us up at."

"Didn't you do that yesterday, before you came here?" Tom asked as he sat up completely and drank some of his own coffee.

"Yes we did, but we thought it would be easier if we just had them come and get us here rather than in Cairo, since this is a pretty isolated spot." Storm explained.

"Thats why I picked it." Tom stated as he placed his arm around Remy's waist, lightly stroking his thumb over his hip. "What would the others think when they saw you standing out in the middle of the desert waiting for them?"

"But your house.."

"Won't be seen by them or yourselves, once you cross the property line." Tom stated as he offered a whipped cream covered strawberry to Remy, "Should you try and scan the area once you are on the jet, you will still only find sand for miles. Try and cross back over the line and I will be forced to imprison you all."

"What are you sayin' bub?"

"I'm saying, I don't trust you. This is my home and I take security very seriously, you were invited and I use that term loosely, for a limited time only. Once that time is up, you are no longer allowed here unless Remy wishes for you to be. Should you attempt to sneak in for whatever misguided rescue attempt you are conceiving I will not be pleased and will treat you as my enemy."

"Are you listening to this Remy? Are you going to allow him to threaten us?" Storm asked in shock.

"He's not threatening you. Tom's merely stating a fact, if he thinks you're attacking, he will retaliate and I won't stop him." Remy said as he leaned back into Tom's chest. "The only reason you were brought here in the first place, was because I asked him to bring you along so I could get some answers. Now that I have those and you know that I'm doing fine, we can all go on with our lives."

"So this is it? You're just going to stay here while we go back to fighting for our place in society?" Storm asked in disbelief.

"Do Not, attempt to guilt trip Remy into returning. He's done everything for your cause at great risk to himself, facing those he had reason to fear on an almost daily basis. Why? Because you asked him to, because he wanted to belong. And what happened when he needed those who he had come to trust, they betray him and leave him to die." Tom growled out angrily, and placed a clawed hand behind his back as he tried to reign in his temper.

"Don't presume you know what its like, being hated for what you are, what you have no control over. You're just a rich pretty boy .."Logan stated in anger, before he stopped at the look on Tom's face.

Remy felt Tom tense behind him as Logan told him he didn't know what it was like, he froze as he felt Tom stand up and move away from him, turning around he cursed at Logan as he saw Tom turned away from him, holding his arm across his chest. "Wait, Tom. He didn't know what he was sayin'"

"Whats the matter, can't take the truth?" Logan started again as Tom walked away.

Tom stopped suddenly and was lifting Logan by the shirt in an instant, with his clawed hand. "_I don't know what its like? You have no idea what I've lived through."_ Tom hissed at them, before he turned to face Remy, "_I'm sorry, love. I have to leave or I will hurt them."_ he stated before disappearing.

Remy called out from the ground, "Damn it, Logan are you happy now?"

Logan straightened out his shirt and replied, "Yeah, hes gone now, that means you can come back with us."

"Is that what that was about. He was never stopping me from leavin', Gambit could leave at any time." Remy said as he stood up and faced Logan.

"So, why don't you? You've never been into this kind of romantic crap before, sunrise picnic." Logan snorted as he stepped closer to Remy, "This isn't what you want, come back with us and we'll set things straight with the others." Logan placed his hand on Remy's shoulder, and was blasted back by a flare of light from his runic markings.

"What would you know about what I want, you barely even know me." Remy said, as he stepped away from the people he thought he knew, "You know what I'm done." Remy said in exasperation as he held onto his pendant, "Tom, I need you."

Two seconds later a golden streak shot through the sky, and landed next to Remy in a burst of fire, blocking them from view. "_What is it, love? Did they hurt you?"_

"No, they didn't hurt me. I need you to send them on their way, I don't want to deal with them anymore. You can send them back to Cairo, can't you?"

"Of course, love." Tom answered, as the fire died down and the others could see them clearly again. "if thats what you really want me to do."

Remy nodded his head, "Yeah it is." Remy looked to the others as Tom made a portkey out of a napkin from the basket, "The next time we see each other, I hope you're more understanding. Don't bother trying to contact me since your mail is obviously being monitored. We'll be moving around taking care of some business anyway so don't bother tryin' to find us out here again."

"Remy, I know you think you're happy here, but don't you want to go back home and explain to the others what happened?" Storm tried again.

"Thats where you're wrong, I don't think I'm happy here. I know I am." Remy said with heat, making Storm take a step back. "As for the others, they didn't want to hear Remy's side before, they don't need to hear it now."

"But .."

"Goodbye, Storm, Logan. See ya around." Remy said as Tom banished the portkey at the two, once it hit them they disappeared from sight. Remy turned into Tom's arms "They're going to hate me now aren't they?"

"No, they won't hate you. They might think I was controlling you, but thats a small price to pay since we both know I wouldn't do that." Tom replied as he held Remy close. "I love you, Remy."

Remy looked up from Tom's chest and asked, "You love me?"

"More than you could ever imagine." Tom whispered against his lips.

Remy smiled as he replied, "I think I can imagine, since I love you just as much." What started out as a gentle kiss, quickly escalated as the ever present sparks they felt every time they touched made themselves known. Tom turned them so Remy was on his back in the soft, dew laden grass. Remy moaned as he felt Tom's length against him through the fabric of their jeans. Tom quickly banished their clothes as Remy let out a moan and started preparing his lover. "_**Gods, I love you. Want to keep you with me for all time." **_Tom told Remy between kisses and nips across his shoulders, neck and mouth, while his other hand stroked his lover.

Remy let out a series of moans at the hissing and touches, that felt so good. "Not... mm..sure what....what you're....oh gods....saying.... but I ...mmm..ahh....like ..it...MMm."

Tom speed his hand up and tweaked Remy's nipples as he drew him into a deep kiss, mapping out the hot cavern with his tongue. Tom thrust deep inside Remy with his hardened cock, causing Remy to leave scratch marks down his back as he held on tighter as Tom continued to plunge deep inside him. Remy broke the kiss as his body tightened and buried his head in Tom's neck as he gasped out, "Mm,.. gods..yes..", as he spurted his seed in Tom's hand. Tom came moments later as he felt Remy's muscles contracting against his member. They continued holding onto each other as their sweat slicked bodies trembled with pleasure.

Tom looked deep into Remy's eyes as he asked, "Marry me?"

Remy stared for a moment in shock, as he thought, 'he asked me to marry him, mon dieu I've just been proposed to.' "Tom, I..did I hear you right?"

Tom summoned a small box from the basket and opened it as he asked again, "Marry me Remy."

'what are you waiting for, say yes already. He wants you, you want him, say yes.' Remy slowly nodded his head, and swallowed as Tom's face lit up, he closed his eyes and felt a ring be placed on his finger.

"You alright, love?" Tom asked after he placed the ring on Remy's finger.

Remy nodded, as he said, "Yeah, just don't want to open my eyes and find out this is all some kind of dream."

Tom kissed Remy's lips gently before saying, "Open your eyes, and find that this is one dream that came true."

Remy took a deep breath as he slowly opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Tom smiling down at him, 'This is real.' Tom held up Remy's left hand and said, "Its still there, love."

Remy looked at his hand, and saw an elegant ring made of white gold, parts of which were raised to form what looked like swirls, it also had several diamonds around it spaced in no set pattern until it clicked in Remy's mind. "This is parselscript isn't it."

Tom smiled, "Yes it is. It says, 'A love to last through eternity.'"

**Cairo**

**Shopping District**

**Parking garage**

Storm and Logan landed in a corner of the lot that they had ridden out of yesterday in Tom's jeep. Logan sheathed his claws as he looked around, "This is where we started, isn't it?"

"It would appear so." Storm answered as she clutched her stomach and tried not to vomit. "Any ideas on how we managed to be sent here?"

Logan picked up the napkin that had been sent towards them right before their surroundings had changed and handed it to Storm as he said, "Not sure, but this was what he threw at us."

"A napkin?" Storm stated in shock, "But that doesn't make any sense. He couldn't have sent us here with this bit of trash." A piece of the videos they had seen floated through Storm's mind, '_this should be proof enough that magic exists.'_

"Magic. He used magic to send us here."

"What are you talking about, magic doesn't really exist, its all smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand tricks." Logan stated in disbelief.

"Then you explain how he managed to send us here, if it wasn't by magic."

"Maybe its some kind of new mutant power that we haven't figured out yet, an advanced form of tele-portation like Kurt. He did disappear into thin air several times, then show back up later." Logan theorized. "And if it was 'magic', then thats all the more reason for us to get Remy out of his grasp."

"Yesterday, you were fine with them being together. Why are you acting all protective now?"

"I wasn't thinking straight yesterday, he must have done something to us while we were in the dungeons the first time. Tampered with the water or something, to make us more amendable to his presence."

"But I thought you filtered those kinds of things from your system within a matter of minutes." Storm said in shock.

Logan just shook his head and said, "Normally thats what happens, but he did say he had trouble with my system to Remy last night. So it is plausible that he had us under some kind of drug and it wore off this morning, since we didn't have anything to eat or drink before we found them."

"And Remy was eating with him this morning, so that could be how he's keeping him there." Storm turned to Logan and said, "What are we going to do? Do you think we can find them and bring Remy back with us?"

"We can try. Lets go meet the team and start a sweep of the desert with the jet. He said we wouldn't be able to find the house, but I bet he wasn't planning on us trying to locate his dungeons." Logan said as he led Strom to the outskirts of town.

"Scott,whats the ETA on our pickup?" Logan spoke into his communicator.

"About three hours, there was an attack last night on the institute and the blackbird was damaged."

"Is everyone alright?" Storm asked.

"There were a few injuries but nothing major. It was such a random move for them to make, I guess they thought we wouldn't be able to put up as much of a fight without you two here."

"Any word on Remy?" Storm asked hesitantly.

Logan gave Storm a look as if to say, 'what are you doing?' but he didn't ask out loud. Scott's voice came over the communicator again, "No, no word on his whereabouts. I'm sorry to say it looks like hes either dead or turned against us."

"Why would you say he might have turned against us?"

"Nothing, just we have to face facts. He hasn't reported in and no one has claimed that they killed him, so that really only leaves us with having turned against us and joining with someone else."

"And if he were alive and you saw him, what would you do?" Logan asked.

"That depends on if he were fighting against us or not. Why all these questions about him?"

"We've seen him, hes here in Egypt but we think hes being controlled by someone else." Logan stated.

"Did you get to talk to him?"

"Briefly, we were taken to a house and sent to the dungeons. He didn't object to us being in there, in fact he had the house owner send us back inside them after awhile."

"Well, if he is being controlled we'll have to try and get him out of there, can you find the place again?" Jean's voice cut over the communicator.

"We might be able to, we were driven for about an hour almost due east, but his house is protected kinda like the blackbirds stealth mode so we'll have to scan for his dungeons so we can find it." Storm replied.

"Alright get yourselves some rest and we'll put a team together and start the search once we get to you." Scott told them before he cut of the communicator and started issuing orders to the rest of the x-men at the mansion.

**Sub basement one**

**Xavier's institute for gifted children**

"Alright people listen up, one of our team members has been captured. I need a team ready to go in an hour." Scott said over the institutes intercom system,

"But, like, wasn't everyone accounted for?" Kitty asked as she suited up. Kurt and Jubilee shrugged their shoulders as they tried to figure out who the captured team member could be.

"Maybe they've finally found out whats happened to Gambit. He has been gone for a long time, I thought he was just getting away from Rogue and her being all lovey-dovey with Warren. It just makes me want to puke the way they act around each other." Jubilee commented quietly as she saw Rogue and Warren, walking side by side whispering to each other.

"But, like, I thought he just, like, you know moved into the boathouse." Kitty said.

Kurt spoke up then, "Thats what we thought too, when we saw his room was empty. But we went to check the boathouse, it was covered in dust, no footprints or other signs of recent occupancy."

"Why wouldn't they tell us if he was missing? I thought we were a family and took care of each other." Kitty whispered.

"Like they're really gonna tell a bunch of us kids something like that. They don't even want us knowing when they go out on missions." Bobby replied as he overheard the group talking.

"Damn it Bobby, you shouldn't sneak up on us like that."

"And you shouldn't be talking about these kinds of things where you can be overheard. I don't know why but ever since last month the adults have been acting kinda off, even Jean's been on a short fuse with Scott." Bobby whispered to the group as they moved out of the hangar and made their way to the blackbird. Glancing around he continued, "A few weeks ago after Storm went to Kenya, I saw Rogue and Warren enter his room late one night and take all his stuff out. No idea why, or what they did with it but thats just not right. The next day Rogues wearing that new bracelet that lets her touch others."

"Are you saying they got that from his room? Where would he get such a thing from?" Jubilee asked in a hushed voice.

"I'm not saying anything, except its awful suspicious. I know he was working on something the past six months or so and it kept him up late into the late on more than one occasion. He's a lot smarter than the others give him credit for, you know he did the mansion's entire security system and we were only infiltrated yesterday because Scott took it off line last week, and reactivated the old system." Bobby took one last look around him before saying, "Come on we had better get on board or they might leave us behind."

**War Room**

"What do ya mean we have ta rescue that swamp rat? He shoulda died when we left him behind, not be somewhere in Egypt." Rogue yelled at Scott.

"Don't you think I know that, but the fact is he didn't die and now we have to clean up the mess. No one but you, me, him, Warren and Betsy know what really happened out there and we're going to keep it that way." Scott yelled back before taking a deep breath and stating in a calmer voice, "Storm and Wolverine believe he is being controlled by whoever has him, and that means we need to go and attempt a rescue. We will use tranquillizers since we won't know if he is being controlled until the fight is over. So make sure a few cartridges are filled with an aspirin substitute, since hes allergic to that it'll be easy to overdose him and blame it on his captor."

"And if that don't work, I can always touch him and send him into a coma once he gets back." Rogue said.

"Hes been nothing but trouble since we took him in, now hes trouble after we throw him out." Warren muttered to Rogue.

"I thought we were taking Hank with us?" Betsy spoke up. "Won't he notice something?"

"Thats why we're taking some of the younger members with us, they will likely injure themselves and need to be looked after. So he should be too busy to pay much attention to what we're doing. But if he is you will have to block that memory from him." Betsy nodded her head in understanding as Scott looked around the room once more and asked, "Any other questions?" A round of negative head shakes was all the answer he received before they made their way to the blackbird.

**Sinister's lair**

**examination room**

Sinister turned away from his monitors as he watched the x-men board the jet, and he faced the broken remains of Remy Lebeau. "Now this is interesting, why would they think you were alive and in Egypt of all places." Sinister moved closer to examine the body once more. "It makes no sense, I have you here, they left you in Antarctica so why would they think they saw you in the desert." he tapped his chin as he stared at the blank red eyes, "Most interesting indeed, you hold many secrets but I will discover them soon enough."

Sinister turned back to the monitors as he continued talking to himself, "Who would have thought the x-men would be so cold when contemplating murder, and to use the children as nothing more than cannon fodder to distract the doctor while they carry on their nefarious deeds. They show such potential, I will have to monitor this closely."


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own what I own and don't what I don't.

Remy dried himself after his leisurely hot bath, and stepped into the red silk robe Tom had given him for the ceremony they would be performing in just a few minutes. As he tied the sash around his waist he thought back to earlier this morning.

_Flashback_

_After Tom had proposed_

_Tom and Remy laid in the nude, curled together under the shade of a tree by the lake, as he watched the fish swim Remy asked, "What kind of wedding should we have?"_

"_Any kind you want." Tom replied, "Anything, from a simple ceremony with just the two of us. To a wedding fit for royalty with all the trimmings and thousands of people in attendance."_

_Remy chuckled as he replied, "Don't think either of us would appreciate a wedding like the royals have. I like the idea of a ceremony just between the two of us, but I think at least your clan would object to that."_

"_They aren't the ones getting married, we are." Tom replied._

"_Can we get married today and maybe have a bigger ceremony later with guests." Remy asked as he lightly drew patterns over Tom's chest._

"_We can, if thats what you want." Tom stopped Remy's hand and tilted his head up so he could see Remy's eyes. "Whats bothering you love?"_

"_I ..I don't want you to change your mind and I want it to be official before we see the guilds so they don't try anything..." Remy whispered._

_Tom wrapped his arms around Remy and ran his fingers through Remy's hair as he comforted him and said, "I'm not going to change my mind, love. And I won't let anyone come between us, not my clan, not our friends, and defiantly not the guilds."_

"_I know that in my heart, but my mind keeps having doubts." Remy said into Tom's chest._

"_I understand." Tom replied, "Is in an hour alright, or do you want to wait until later?"_

"_An hours perfect." Remy replied as he kissed across Tom's chest._

_Tom felt himself harden as he breathed, "I can't adjust the wards when you're distracting me love."_

"_Why do you need to adjust them?" Remy asked curiously, not stopping with his lazy exploration._

"_Its just a precaution,... to compenssssate for any mmm..magical backlasssshessss … that mmmight ooh.. occur during the ….bonding." Tom explained as Remy sucked on his nipple and ran his hands over his lower body._

"_I should let you get to work then." Remy replied with a grin as he stood up and walked towards the house._

"_Tease." Tom called after him._

_End flashback_

Remy met Tom who was wearing a deep green robe, at the bottom of the stairs. As they headed outside Tom asked, "Are you ready?"

"To be your husband, absolutely." Remy replied with a smile as they headed towards a stone altar that had a cup of wine and a dagger placed on it.

Tom made a slit on his hand with the dagger and dripped a few drops of blood into the cup of wine as he said, "With this shedding of blood, I pledge my life to you."

Remy accepted the knife from Tom and dripped his blood into the wine as he repeated the vow. "With this shedding of blood, I pledge my life to you."

They clasped their bloody hands together and intoned in unison, "May our pain be forevermore halved and our joys doubled."

Tom drank from the cup before saying, "With the drinking of this wine, I am yours and you are mine."

Remy drank from the cup and repeated the vow, "With the drinking of this wine, I am yours and you are mine."

They traded off drinking until the cup was empty, setting it aside they once more intoned together, "With this kiss our hearts, minds, bodies and souls will be forevermore entwined."

Their robes fluttered open as a wind picked up, and a golden ball of light enveloped them as their lips met. The kiss deepened as their arousal grew, along with the ball of light. Shedding their robes they made slow, sweet love on the soft ground. Had they not been so focused on their own pleasures, they would have noticed that the ball of light had grown to encompass the entirety of the property bathing everything in a golden glow. As they reached completion the ball burst and sent a shock wave of light that could be felt and seen for miles.

"I know people always say the earth moves when it comes to the wedding night, but ..Damn." Remy stated once he was able to speak coherently again, causing Tom to chuckle into his husband's shoulder.

**Egyptian Ministry of Magic**

Neville watched people running around outside his door and being curious he pulled the next person aside and asked, "Whats going on?"

"Theres been some kind of huge magical outburst that happened out in the desert not ten minutes ago. There hasn't been anything recorded like this since the time of Merlin and we don't even know what caused it." The young aid said breathlessly as he tried to keep his papers from falling.

"Where in the desert?" Neville asked as he grabbed his cloak and fastened it around his shoulder.

"About seventy five miles east of Cairo. If you hurry, you can join the next group heading out to investigate." The aid said as he scrambled off towards a group holding a portkey.

Neville hurried after the aid and took ahold of the portkey just before it took off. As all the other wizards wandered around trying to locate the point the disturbance had originated from, Neville could faintly see a mirage like image in the shape of a fine house in the midst of an oasis, and wondered why no one else was looking in that direction. Feeling a vibration from his pocket, he reached in and pulled out the portkey Parsel had given him yesterday and couldn't help but chuckle as he made his way calmly up to the front door and knocked.

Tom and Remy had just come inside and when they heard a knock at the door. Tom made sure their robes were tied securely as they made their way to the door, keeping Remy behind him just in case. Tom breathed a mental sigh of relief as he recognized Neville's magical signature and opened the door. "You're early."

"I take it you are the reason for the shock wave that was recorded at the ministry." Neville replied as he clasped Tom's hand.

Tom ran his hand through his hair and licked his lips in remembrance, before replying. "Yeah, that was us."

At the word 'us', Neville took a closer look at Tom's appearance, taking in the robes and glint of gold on his ring finger he asked. "Are those..?"

"We bonded less than an hour ago. Which is the reason for the shock wave and the wards being minimized." Tom stated as he put his arm around Remy's waist.

"Hate to tell you this, but, theres about thirty wizards wandering around just outside your property trying to pinpoint the source of the disturbance." Neville said.

"Damn, didn't think it would cause that much interest out here since nothing was destroyed." Tom said, shaking his head.

"Its the largest outburst of magical energy recorded since the time of Merlin, how can there not be interest." Neville replied.

"You know how I feel about public speculations into my private life." Tom stated tightly.

Neville nodded his head as he said, "I know you and Harry were the same in that regard. What should I tell them?"

"Tell them it was a dragon bonding, that should cover it."

"Not too far from the truth." Remy whispered into Tom's ear.

"They won't believe that unless.." Neville started to say until he saw Tom's eyes start to go slitted, he backed away as he said, "You wouldn't...oh you would."

"_Give you a headsssstart."_ Tom hissed, Neville took off running as Tom turned back to Remy and gave him a deep kiss before he changed into his animagus form, _"Won't be but a minute."_

As Neville ran towards the gathered wizards he waved his arms above his head and shouted, "DRAGON!!!" The assembled wizards stopped what they were doing and watched as a sleek golden dragon fly towards them, bursts of fire occasionally shooting from its mouth. They screamed and apparated away leaving behind their materials to be destroyed. Once everyone was gone Neville hunched over with his hands on his knees as he gasped out, "I am instating a mandatory workout routine when I get back to the ministry. This desk job will be the death of me otherwise."

Tom chuckled as he heard Neville's words, and transformed back. "I wasn't even going that fast. I'll see you and Eclipse for dinner, we have some things for her to look into."

"I'll let you get back to enjoying your honeymoon with your husband." Neville said as he nodded his head, "Congratulations and blessings on your union, by the way."

"Appreciated, now get back to work before they start thinking I ate you." Tom said as he shook Neville's hand again.

As Neville apparated away Tom turned back into a dragon and started the short flight back to his house. Stopping a few yards outside the wards he changed back into his human form as Remy walked seductively towards him, his robe giving off hints of what lay waiting for him with each step he took. They reached each other just outside the wards, Remy put his arms around Tom's neck and whispered into his ear, "That took longer than a minute, Mon Mari."

Tom moaned as he held Remy against him, and answered, "Did it? I'll just have to make it up to you then, won't I." Tom kissed Remy's neck before seeking out his mouth as Remy moaned and rocked lightly against him. Tom grabbed Remy's legs and wrapped them around himself as he deepened the kiss.

**Blackbird**

**cockpit**

"Are you sure this is the direction you went in?" An annoyed Scott asked Logan as they headed towards the east and his scanners showed no traces of habitation anywhere.

Logan growled low in his throat as he answered, "I told you, the sensors won't pick up anything because of the guys security system. Thats why we have to switch to the ground penetrating sonar, to locate his dungeons."

Jubilee looked away from the sniping adults and glanced out the window, seeing a huge ball of light that seemed to be glowing she said, "Hey guys, Guys. What is that?"

As most of the teens and most of the adults looked over to see what had caught her attention for longer than a second, they stared in wonder as the light got bigger before seeming to bust. A huge wave of force suddenly hit the jet making everyone rock in their seats as Scott tried to keep the jet steady through the turbulence. "Storm, can't you control this."

"No, its too wild and keeps fighting me." Storm replied as she kept trying to disperse the force that still rocked them.

Scott made a rough emergency landing as the plane started to stall. "Is everyone alright?" he asked as he ran a systems check to make the jet would still be able to take off again when they needed it. A series of 'fine.' was the answer to his question along with various groans and grumblings from the kids and Logan.

Logan took out a pair of binoculars and looked towards the direction the light had come from, "I'll be damned, lets go everyone. We're only about two miles away from our destination."

"How can you be sure, sugah." Rogue asked as she walked up behind him.

"Because, I can see his house from here." Logan replied as he put the binoculars away and started walking.

"Thought you said this place was hidden." Warren said in exasperation.

Logan just growled before answering, "It was, whatever that light show was must have taken out part of the security system because I can see it. Its a bit blurry, but its there."

"Alright everyone listen up. Psylocke, you're taking the kids. Rogue, you're carrying Logan, Warren you're carrying me. Storm you get Beast." Cyclops commanded. As everyone split off he continued, "Remember this is a rescue mission, use the tranquillizer guns that we've given you. We need to take out the opposition with as little force as possible. If you see Gambit, shoot him as well just incase he's not acting under his own will."

The team stopped about 200 yards away from the house when they saw, what could only be described as a dragon headed towards Remy who was standing outside the house, wearing a red robe and smiling as he watched the creature. Only years of dealing with unusual situations kept the team from voicing their thoughts as they saw the dragon land and turn into an attractive human male also wearing a robe. He had long black hair, and stunning green eyes. Jubilee and Kitty covered their mouths and managed to contain their exclamations as they saw Gambit walk towards the man and put his arms around him. They could faintly hear a moan before he started kissing Remy, many of their eyes almost bugged out as they saw Remy respond and be lifted around the mans waist.

A steel tip against their necks, told the team they were not alone as a gruff voice said, "Enjoying the show?" As the group was made to stand and turn they saw several short green creatures barely higher than their waist holding an assortment of weapons, from spears to massive battle-axes with ease. The one who had spoken first smiled showing off its sharp teeth as it continued, "They do make a lovely pair, don't they? Bind them."

"Yes, Chief." The other creatures said as they cuffed inhibitors on the mutants, and removed anything that be classified as a weapon, before forcing them to line up.

"Sir, this one has a different inhibitor on her already." Said the goblin who was binding Rogue.

Chief Ragnok stepped forward as he said, "Let me see." As he examined the bracelet, he growled, "This doesn't belong to you, female. But you can hold onto it for now, mustn't tamper with evidence after all." Turning back to his men he continued, "Give her an extra inhibitor anyway and take the back way to the dungeons. He already knows we're here."

Tom felt a tingle go down his spine as the wards they had crossed informed him that several of his clan had arrived with prisoners. He broke the kiss and buried his head in Remy's neck as he said, _"Damn, I want you."_

Remy moaned at the tone and lowered himself onto Tom's hard length. "You have me."

Tom managed to stay upright for a few seconds before he lowered them to the ground and proceeded to take him hard and fast. Remy gasped at the new position as Tom lifted his legs over his shoulders and repeatedly slammed home inside of him. "Gods, … Tom.... Mmm, yes...oohh ..please.... " Tom gave Remy's inner thigh a gentle bite and soothed it with his tongue as he stroked his lover. "gods.... TOM!!"

Tom followed Remy over the edge and gently lowered his legs as he removed himself from inside his love and asked, "Didn't hurt you, did I?"

Remy shook his head, and motioned for Tom to come closer with his finger. Once Tom was close enough Remy breathed, "You didn't hurt me, but it'll be a few hours till we can do that again, less with constant carrying."

"That can be arranged." Tom said with a smile as he placed a gentle kiss on Remy's lips. "Hate to do this but we have visitors." He continued as he cast cleansing charms over them and transfigured their discarded robes into two sets of silk pants and silk shirts. Seeing Remy's confused look, Tom clarified, "Goblin visitors, along with prisoners. Thats all I know."

"Did they see anything?" Remy asked in slight embarrassment as he put on the clothes.

"We were still clothed when the wards said they had entered the house through the back way and headed for the dungeons." Tom said after a minute of thought, "So, no they didn't see anything. Not that they won't tease me for letting my guard down. Completely worth it."

Remy chuckled at Tom's last statement, and snuggled into Tom's arms as he carried him inside the house. Tom spotted Chief Ragnok sitting in the living room knelt with his head bowed as said, "Greetings Chief Ragnok. How might I be of service?"

Ragnok grinned as he saw Remy still in Parsel's arms and said, "Take a seat Parsel, after all that energy you released earlier its a wonder you were able to walk let alone satisfy your mate again." Remy blushed and turned his head into Tom's chest.

Tom stroked Remy's hair as he replied, "While the bonding took a lot out of my reserves initially, The wards I setup beforehand managed to collect enough of the backlash to put me back to half strength when the bonding was finalized."

"Good, speaking of wards when we felt your burst of magic and saw that it had been the result of a bonding, we felt it only right to make sure the ministry wizards didn't intrude on such a private moment. But instead of wizards, we came across several mutants instead, not too far from the house. They were armed with the weapons arranged on the coffee table there, and are currently being held in your dungeons."

Tom set Remy down in a chair as he made his way to the table and picked up one of the tranquillizer guns and several of the darts. _**"Show dungeons."**_ He spoke to the wards. Checking over his prisoners he spotted Storm curled in a corner of her cell. "Shit, _**transfer prisoner from cell 13 to cell 2, also transfer prisoner from cell 14 to cell 2. Provide medical supplies as needed."**_

"Was there a problem, Parsel?" Ragnok asked as he watched the transfers take place.

"She has claustrophobia, the other is a doctor and should be able to help her through her attack." Tom replied as he continued checking over the cells looking for any others that were having genuine problems.

"No one said anything as we brought them down."

Tom smiled at the goblin as he said, "They probably thought you'd kill them for speaking up." Tom paused as he saw the prisoner in cell nineteen. "Well, well. If it isn't little Betsy Braddock, wonder if she remembers me."

Chief Ragnok sucked in a breath as he recalled the name Tom had spoken, and said, "Thought I recognized her."

Tom rubbed his chin with one hand and said, _"Yesss, thatsss her. _Looks like I'll be needing to bring Oleander and Eclipse over sooner rather than later. It would be unfair of me to deal with her on my own." Picking up a last dart, Tom broke it open and tasted the contents before his eyes darkened as he handed the dart to the chief, "Please tell me I am wrong, and this is not what I think it is."

Chief Ragnok took the dart and tasted it as well before saying, "Its just aspirin."

"Thats what I thought." Tom said in an icy tone as he summoned the remaining aspirin darts to himself and placed them in a locked box that only he would be able to open. "My mate is allergic to that stuff, one of those darts had enough to knock him out for hours, two or more could possible kill him. And thats without mixing with the sedative in the other darts."

Remy had been half listening to the conversation as he saw the monitors appear and identified several of the older students from the institute sharing one of the larger cells in the dungeons. 'What are they doing here?' he wondered, as he made a count of the rest of the prisoners. 'If they're all here, then who's looking after the younger students at the school?'

"Do you want us to take care of the intruders for you, Parsel." Ragnok asked, "It is your wedding day after all."

"No, thank you my chief. This is something that my mate and I must handle ourselves. Should we change our minds, we'll let you know." Tom said respectfully.

"As you wish, Parsel." Chief Ragnok snapped his fingers and signaled his men to leave the area. "May your union be a prosperous one." With that the goblins were gone in the blink of an eye.

"Tom?" Remy asked quietly from his seat as he saw Tom rub his temples as he continued glaring at Psylocke's monitor.

"Yes, love." Tom replied as he summoned the cordless phone from his office, and turned away from the screen.

"You alright?"

"I will be, just wish we'd had a bit more time to ourselves before the rest of the world decided to intrude on our lives again." Tom sighed as he crouched down infront of Remy and kissed his fingers. "Once this is all taken care of I promise to take you on a long honeymoon." Tom gently kissed Remy's lips before continuing, "How does our own private island in the Bahamas sound?"

"Completely private, no other inhabitants, or interruptions from work?" Remy asked.

"Absolutely private, and no work or people human or otherwise on the entire island. Just you, me, sand, surf and sun." Tom replied as he nibbled on Remy's neck.

"Mm, what are we waiting for then." As Tom continued to nibble on his neck, Remy breathed, "Make your call."

Tom gave Remy a last deep kiss, before he backed away and said, "I will have you at least twice more tonight."

Now who's the tease," Remy said as images of what they could be doing later filled his mind.

Tom just chuckled as he dialed Oleander's private line, "Parsel, what is it? Has something else happened?"

"Theres been a change in plans, get Eclipse and bring her here, I have someone who I think you would like to say a few words to." Tom said in an indifferent voice.

"Who?" Neville questioned.

"Betsy Braddock."

Neville's voice turned cold as he said, "Be right over, don't start without us." and hung up the phone.

Turning back to Remy, Tom asked, "Shes one of the ones that betrayed you as well, isn't she?"

"Yeah, the whole groups here. What I don't get is why they brought the kids and Beast, well not Beast so much as he's the only doctor I would allow to treat me. But the kids have never gone on a mission before, and since they are here then who's at the school watching over the younger kids besides Jean?" Remy said as he sat up in his chair, and looked at the array of items on the coffee-table. "What was in those anyway?"

"Sedatives and aspirin darts, mostly aspirin ones which I have removed and locked away." Tom said in a soft voice. "How would you like to handle the others? Oleander and Eclipse have a claim on Braddock already, which I will not interfere with."

"What do you mean?" Remy asked, "What do they have a claim on her for?"

"She was taking her brother's place as Captain Britain not too long ago, during that time we contacted her to help us out during the war. There was an attack that was supposed to happen at our main magical hospital, we already had a new location established and most of the transfers went smoothly until we reached the ones in the long term ward. Braddock was supposed to provide us with backup should we not finish in time before the attack took place. She never showed." Tom said as he turned away from Remy. "Twenty-seven men and women were killed that night when an explosion took out the ward. Both of Oleander's parents and Eclipse's father were among the casualties. When I confronted her about it, her excuse was that she had been doing a fashion show in Milan at the time."

"She let people die all because she had a fashion show, and she thinks I should... " Remy trailed off as he put his arms around Tom's waist and leaned his head against his shoulder, "She deserves everything your friends do to her."

Tom nodded his head as he said, "They're here." Tom shutdown the rest of the monitors and opened the door with his magic as he invited his friends inside.

A woman with radish earrings, and dirty blond hair, dashed quickly inside the door and hugged Parsel around the waist as she happily exclaimed, "I'm so happy for you Parsel, the nargles tell me that you and your mate have been very busy lately. The snarkfunks population is positively going to skyrocket by this time next year thanks to you two."

Tom couldn't help but smile at the slender witch as he hugged her back, "Same old Luna, you mind easing your grip a little my mate might start to get jealous otherwise."

"Oh, sorry." Luna said as she stopped hugging Tom and threw her arms around Gambit instead, surprising him at the turn in events. "You must be Parsel's mate, I see he marked you up good. Bet hes great in the sack."

"Luna!" Neville exclaimed as he saw Remy start to turn red and Tom choke on his glass of water. "You said, you weren't going to ask any personal questions like that."

"But I didn't ask." She said calmly as she moved back to her husband.

"Sweetheart, you could have at least introduced yourself first." Neville reasoned. Luna perked up at that and would have gone back towards the others to do just that had Neville not caught her around the waist. "You can do it from here."

Remy whispered into Tom's ear, not realizing he had spoken in parseltounge, "_**Et elle est le l'un qui traquera mes e-mails?" '**_And she's the one that's going to track my e-mails?'

'Gods is that how I sound when I use parseltounge?' Tom thought to himself as he answered, "_**A là plus à elle que rencontre l'amour d'œil, elle fait seulement ceci quand elle est nerveuse ou lancer des gens de faire de garde les la sous-estiment**_._**" '**_There's more to her than meets the eye love, she only does this when she's nervous or to throw people off guard making them underestimate her.'

"_**Mm, why are you sspeaking in parseltounge, Tom?"**_ Remy asked, in a lustful tone.

Tom chuckled before answering, _**"You started talking in it first, Remy."**_ Tom continued as Remy looked at him in shock. **_"Its just a side effect of the bonding, a sharing of powers is rare but it does happen every now and again."_**

Remy swallowed before asking, _**"So, how do I stop?"**_

"_**Just concentrate on speaking in English for now and try not to become too aroused or angry or it might slip out again."**_ Tom replied as he ghosted his hand over Remy's ass.

Remy nibbled on Tom's neck as he said, _"Easisser sssaid than done Tom."_

"Later, love. _We still have busssinesssss to take care of, once thatss done_ _**I'll be only too happy to help you manage the language of snakes."**_ Tom whispered in Remy's ear, as Remy continued nibbling on his neck. "Now concentrate."

Remy closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he fought down his arousal and centered his mind on the task at hand, as if he was about to go on a heist. "Hows this?"

"Perfect. I'm going to enjoy testing your control later." Tom said as he captured Remy's lips in a kiss. "Now let me introduce you to the others."

"_**Mmm, Yeah, sure" **_ Remy said, before he hit Tom in the stomach as he glared at him, "**_That was so not fair."_**

"Couldn't resist love." Tom chuckled as he backed away, with his hands held in surrender. "Alright, no more teasing. Remy, this is Oleander and Eclipse, also known as Neville and Luna Longbottom. Luna, Neville this is my husband, Remy LeBeau also called Gambit."

"Nice to meet you." Remy said as he managed to speak in English again.

"Likewise." Neville said as he clapped his hand over Luna's mouth before she could get started asking questions. "You'll have to excuse Eclipse she just found out about the bonding on the way over and I haven't managed to tell her anything else, about our visit."

"So she doesn't know, alright hold her." Tom said as he called up a monitor, _**"Show cell 19."**_

Remy saw an immediate change in the bubbly, excitable woman as she looked at the monitor. She stood straighter and her eyes lost the slight faraway look to them, becoming cold silvery orbs. "Where?"

"You will not engage her in combat, thats an order Eclipse. Remember the baby you carry." Luna nodded her head, Tom continued. "Verbal agreement, before I let you go."

"I will not engage Betsy Braddock, in physical combat or any other that might cause harm to myself or my child." Luna said in a low voice.

"Very well, cell 19. Neville you are free to do as you please with her." Tom said as he lead the way to the dungeons. "Use silencing charms if you are going to make her scream. You know how I hate that sound."

"Yes, Parsel. Should we stick to codenames while we're down there?" Neville asked as they paused on the stairs.

"Some of the other prisoners already know our names so it won't matter too much if you don't, but it would be appreciated." Tom answered as he stepped to the side with Remy. "She's at the end, call if you need me."

Luna took off at quick walk as soon as Tom had finished speaking, making Neville hurry to keep up with her. "Shall we start on the left or right?"

Gambit looked in the different cells, on the right was Beast talking quietly with Storm, on the left was the cell holding the younger team members huddling together, Kurt and Bobby acting as shields for Kitty and Jubilee. "We'll start with the kids since they shouldn't have been here in the first place. Can we take them upstairs if they promise not to cause any trouble?"

"As you wish." Tom said as he waited for Remy to address the kids.

Remy cleared his throat as he stepped closer to the cell and was instantly recognized, "Gambit, are you going to help us escape this place?" Bobby asked hopefully.

Remy shook his head as he realized just how young they were, they had just turned seventeen. "Non, Gambit not here to help you 'scape. Gambit's here to take you upstairs for a discussion 'bout why y'all here. But only if y'all give your word that you'll behave. D'accord?"

The students looked at each other and silently reached an agreement as they all nodded their heads and said, "Deal."

Tom stepped into the light at that point and took down the ward on the cell, making the kids back away from him. "Non, its alright. Come on, he won't hurt you."

"But they said he was holding you captive, and controlling you." Jubilee said from behind Bobby.

"Who .." Gambit stopped talking as he turned his head to glare at Storm and said, "You, what part of happy and do_n't want to leave didn't you understand?"_

"Remy, I.." Storm started to say.

Gambit interrupted her as he spoke in a calmer voice, "Non, not doin' dis now. And da names Gambit to you." Remy started for the stairs and called back over his shoulder, "You comin' petites, or did ya want to stay down here."

"Parsel! Hurry!"

"Go." Tom said as he tore off down the hallway towards Oleander's yell. He rushed into the cell holding Psylocke and slammed her against the wall just as Oleander's shield around Eclipse was about to fall. He threw up a new shield instantly and growled at his captive, his green eyes flashing in anger, "Hello Betsy, Remember me?"

Psylocke's eyes widened in fear as she did indeed remember the person who had her pinned against a wall with his arm. "No, you're dead. They said you died shortly after losing your boyfriend Potter in the war."

Tom grinned at that, "What sappy romantic came up with that load of garbage. As much as I would like to continue this conversation, I have more import things to attend to. So why don't you just _**sleep**_ for awhile."Tom smirked Betsy fell to the ground unconcious, and left the cell with Oleander and Eclipse.

Remy had the kids sit on the couches in the living room but mostly ignored them as he kept his eyes on the door leading down to the dungeons. He got out of his seat quickly as he saw the door open, he hid his initial disappoint at it being Oleander faded and was replaced by concern as he saw him carrying a crying Luna. "She alright?"

"I hope so, never should have let her enter the cell with me." Neville said quietly as he moved towards a chair and set Luna down.

Tom entered the room at that moment and said, "No, you shouldn't have. Now tell me what happened."

"We had just entered the cell when she attacked us with her mental powers, when she couldn't get through our minds she got a twisted grin and tried to .." Luna trailed off as she covered her stomach and started to cry again. Tom moved towards Luna and looked into her eyes as he ran a diagnostic charm over her body, he placed one hand gently on her belly as he closed his eyes and muttered under his breath in parseltongue. When he was done, he summoned a few vials from his potions lab and handed them to her. "Here take these, the baby will be fine but you need to calm down." Turning to Oleander he continued, "Take her up the stairs first door on the right, and make sure she drinks both vials. We can deal with Braddock later."

Oleander nodded as he got up from his chair, "Thank you Parsel."

Tom waved away the thanks as he turned towards his alcohol cabinet and poured himself out a glass of whiskey, and conjured up a pack of cigarettes. He downed half his glass before he lit the cigarette and turned back to the remaining group. "Care for a drink Remy? I'd offer one to the others but they don't look old enough to have any."

Remy went over to Tom as he said, "Non, but I'll take one of your smokes."

Tom gave him a smile as he handed over the pack, "Did I miss anything?"

Remy lit his cigarette as he shook his head no, "they just keep looking at me like they want to ask a question but are to afraid to do it. Don't like dem being scared of me."

"I'm sure its not you they're scared of, its more the situation." Tom soothed, as he gently stroked Remy's cheek. "After all its not everyday you are captured by little green men, wielding primitive weapons."

Remy couldn't help but chuckle at the mental picture Tom's description conjured up, "Bet Logan's pissed he was snuck up on."

"Oh, I would imagine so. Now how about we go into the kitchen and get us some food, I'm sure the kids are hungry by now." Tom said as he saw the teens watching them closely.

Remy turned around to look at the kids and asked, "You hungry petites?"

"Maybe a little." Kitty answered as an unmistakable rumble was heard from both the boys stomachs.

"Come on den," Remy said as he put his arm around Tom's waist and started walking to the kitchen.

They'd gone about two steps before Tom lifted Remy up into his arms in smooth motion as he said, "Thought we agreed I was carrying you for the rest of the day."

"But Ragnok told you to take it easy." Remy said as he held onto Tom and tried to ignore the startled gasps from the girls.

"He worries too much, besides we're going to get food, food equals energy so I'll be fine." Tom replied, as he smiled down at his husband, and entered the kitchen. Setting Remy on the counter he leaned in and asked, "How does soft shell crab and lobster tails sound?"

Remy licked his lips as he replied, "_Sssounds deliciousss_."

"Really, cool. Hey." Came a shout from behind them, Remy and Tom both looked over his shoulder and saw that it had been Jubilee who had shouted as evidenced by the others hands covering her mouth.

An embarrassed Bobby quietly said, "Sorry, she thought you meant us too."

Tom chuckled at the groups innocence and replied, "There's no reason you can't have the same as us."

"But lobster is so like totally expensive." Kitty said from the back of the group.

"So?" Tom shrugged as he turned back to Remy, and asked quietly, "Kiss for the cook?"

Remy grinned as he replied, "Just one."

Tom pretended to pout, before smirking as he said, "Better make it count then." Tom pulled Remy's body against him and kissed him passionately, making Remy moan as he tangled his hands in Tom's long hair. Ending the kiss, Tom licked his lips as they both breathed heavily, "You sure I can't have more than one?"

"Later..when we're alone." Remy replied as he saw the kids staring at them again, _**"and don't need clothes."**_

"_**Just tell me when."**_ Tom replied as he forced himself to move away from Remy and start cooking the lunch. "Its impolite to stare, you know." Tom said over his shoulder at the kids.

A series of 'sorries' were heard as the kids looked away guiltily and sat at the table. Remy hopped off the counter and made his way to the fridge and pulled out a pack of sodas and set them on the table. He then proceeded to set the table and brought out two wine glasses for himself and Tom. Getting tired of the kids sneaking glances at him Remy finally sat down and asked, "What?"

Apparently Jubilee couldn't hold in her thoughts any longer and exclaimed, "That was totally hot, I so thought you were going to have sex right there."

Remy could only stare as that was the last thing he was expecting to hear, Tom chuckled as he set the food on the table and put his left hand on Remy's shoulder as he said, "Teenagers." As Tom moved away again to get the wine off a shelf, Remy started serving himself as the kids looked at the abundance of food that was laid out before them, there was at least two dozen crabs and lobster tails, a creamy pasta, tossed salad and rolls.

"Somethin' wrong petites?" Remy asked as he Tom sat next to him and filled their glasses with a white wine, and filled his plate.

Bobby was the first to snap out of his daze, as he said, "No, just admiring the spread is all."

"As good as the food looks, it tastes even better." Remy said as he took a bite of his meal, and savored the flavor.

Jubilee, ever the eager one, began serving herself which got the others started as well. A knock on the kitchen door, made Tom look up as he said, "Enter."

Oleander poked his head inside and swallowed as he took in the group eating, "Sorry to interrupt but ..." Neville was interrupted as Luna breezed through the door with a cheery wave and sat at the table.

Tom smiled at the witch as he said, "I see you're feeling better. Help yourself, you too Neville theres plenty here as always."

"Thank you, Tom." Luna said as she snatched a roll from Neville's hand and put it on her own plate, along with some lobster, crab, and pasta. Tom gave her a stern look, as he used his magic to serve her some salad. Luna pouted as she looked at the greens on her plate, "But Tom, you know I hate rabbit food."

"Its good for you."

"But.." Luna protested.

"No salad, no brownies." Tom said as he pointed to corner of the kitchen where a pan of fresh made fudge brownies were cooling on a rack.

"Thats cheating. You know I love your brownies." Luna stated as she stabbed at her salad.

"Then I suggest you start eating." Tom replied as he went back to his meal.

"Why doesn't that ever work for me." Neville muttered as Luna began to eat her salad.

Tom smirked as he replied, "Because you always cave when she gives you the puppy dog eyes and pouty face.

Neville chuckled, "So says the man who gave her a billion dollars to use as starting capital, so she could start back up the quibbler."

"It was a good investment." Tom countered, "Very popular in America, what did you rename it again, Luna."

"The National Inquirer." Luna supplied as she continued eating. "And if someone had looked at the sales figures lately he wouldn't have brought that up."

"I didn't mean it the way it sounded, you know I love to read your stories." Neville quickly apologized to his wife.

"Remy be thinkin' you be spendin' the night on the couch, mon ami." Remy said as raised his wine glass, as Luna crossed her arms and looked away from her husband.

"Since when do you wear jewelery, Gambit?" Kurt asked as he heard it clink against Remy's glass.

Kitty looked over and exclaimed, "Jewelry, what kind, let me see."

Remy cleared his throat nervously as the girls looked at him pleadingly, "Rings,you can come closer if you wanna see. I'd rather not take 'em off."

The girls quickly rounded the table and gasped in surprise as Remy set his left hand on the table for inspection. "Are those like real diamonds?" Kitty asked.

"Way cool design, but wait, I thought the only weddings rings were wore on the left hand." Jubilee said as she looked at the second ring that was a thick gold band.

The boys attention were caught at Jubilee's question and they too looked at Gambit, "What kind of rings did you think those were?" Luna asked, "Obviously the ones with diamonds is the engagement ring and the plain one is the actual bonding ring."

"But, you and the kiss, when?" Bobby stuttered as he tried to piece things together.

"Took them long enough to figure it out." Tom said as he covered Remy's hand with his own. "Today, around about, two hours before we brought you upstairs."

"OK, so what, you and Rogue broke up one night during a mission. You went out, got together with your now husband, she found out somehow and thats why she got rid of your stuff at the mansion."

"She did what?" Remy interrupted.

"Yeah, her and Warren went into your room one night and took all your stuff out. Not sure what she did with it but its gone now." Bobby continued.

"Everything, did you see a bracelet in the stuff that was thrown out. Its silver and has a jeweled clasp on it." Remy asked hurriedly.

"You mean the one that controls her powers, shes wearing it. Said it was a gift from Warren since he's her boyfriend now."

Remy slammed his fist into the table, startling the kids when they heard it crack. "Damn it. That was for Sarah, not her."

"Sarah, who's Sarah?" Kurt couldn't help but ask.

"The morlock kid that grows bones out of her body." Remy clarified. "It was supposed to be her birthday present, next month. I wrote that in one of my emails to Storm and she just took it, knowing it was for someone else. Remy started walking towards the dungeons, with Tom beside him and the others following at a distance. They could vaguely hear him muttering under his breath, "_Leaving me to die isss one thing, but taking a gift from a kid isss ssssomething elssse entirely."_

Once he had descended the stairs he turned to Tom and asked, "Which cell?"

"Seventeen." Tom grabbed Remy's hand before he could take off again and said, "Wait, there now should her powers break through the inhibitors she won't be able to affect you." Tom said as he finished setting a ward around Remy. Remy kissed Tom deeply making them both moan, "Mine."

"Yours, only yours." Remy breathed out, before he straightened and said, "You'll be there with me, right?"

"'Course love." Tom replied, as he stroked Remy's cheek. "Shall we?" Remy nodded as he took Tom's hand and they walked towards Rogue's cell.

Betsy saw the group coming and called out, "You will not intimidate me, Parsel. My brother will find out about this and then what will you do?"

"Your brother, shall I call him and see what he has to say about the crimes you have committed? Hmm, I'm pretty sure attacking an unborn child's mind is punishable by death even for a King's sister." Tom growled out.

"No it wouldn't be, he wouldn't let anyone kill me. Family protects family, something you wouldn't know about." She taunted.

Tom tensed as she kept talking, that was the last straw as he turned to her cell and stated, "Silencio, Lacro. I'm not the one who left people to die for a fucking fashion show, I worked my ass off to get those people out of there all because you didn't show up. The pain you feel now isn't even a fraction of what I felt as I tried to save them all, the screams I still hear of the innocents being slaughtered and raped all because the backup we were promised, found a fashion show more important." Tom turned away from the cell as he lifted the pain spell, and took out a smoke. Betsy weakly curled herself into a ball as the pain still racked her body, and tears streamed down her face. Tom took a drag as he continued, "I'm pretty sure Brian would forgive me for anything I did to you."

A/N: I know, I know I left it on a cliffie again. But oh well thats life for you, I'll try to be faster with the next chapter.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Whats mine is mine, whats not is not.

Authors note: Yeah I know its short, have writers block and morning sickness. Working on a battle scene and what Remy's going to say to his betrayers.

The kids shivered as they saw the changes in Tom, gone was the smiling teasing man from earlier. In the dark with smoke tendrils curling around his head, and with glowing green eyes he looked every inch the dangerous man they had been warned about. Tom stubbed out his cigarette on the wall and closed his eyes as he said. "Oleander, phone."

Neville tossed Tom his cell phone as he asked, "You gonna call him?" Tom nodded his head as he dialed, "But,why? He gave you a dispensation to do as you wanted to with her should she ever cross your path again."

"I'm well aware of that fact Oleander, but I'd rather he tell her that himself." Tom stated as he waited on an answer and called up a monitor for the video phone feature.

A pretty blond woman with blue eyes appeared on the screen and after looking at everyone in the vicinity she said, "Hello?"

"Megan, hows the most beautiful soul I know doing?" Tom said as he drew her attention to himself.

"Tom, Tom Harrison is that you?" The girl said with a smile as she remembered who had told her she had a beautiful soul back when she looked beastly, thus enabling her outer appearance change to match her inside and catch Brian's eye.

"The one and only." Tom said as he turned up the lights around himself.

"It is you, and whats that?" Megan asked as she spotted Tom's wedding ring. "You're married now, which ones the lucky guy?"

"I am of course," Tom said as he brought Remy to his side and gave him a kiss.

Megan laughed as the kiss continued, "So I see. Oh here comes Brian, I'll let you two catch up, my shows are coming on."

"Thanks Megan." Tom said as he forced himself to behave and focus on what he was supposed to be doing.

Megan disappeared from the screen and they could hear a conversation in the background, "Brian, Tom's on the phone."

"Tom who?"

"You know Tom, Oh come on. King Thomas of Camelot."

Tom buried his head in Remy's neck as he heard Megan give out one of his titles. 'Damn.' Remy whispered in his ear, "King? Don't remember you telling me 'bout being a king."

"I said I could give you a wedding fit for royalty." Tom whispered back as he felt the teens eyes on him again.

Brian approached the screen at that point and said, "King Thomas, how are you? To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Brian, you know I hate when you use my title. Unfortunately this is not a social call, your sister Elizabeth has caused me and mine some more trouble recently and has claimed you would protect her against me."

Brian looked at Tom in shock for a moment, before saying, "But, why would I need to protect her. I mean, whats she done this time?"

"Abandoned a teammate to his death, conspired to assassinate my mate, and attacked an unborn child's mind. All of those were within the last month and a half, the last two just a few hours ago." Tom said as he paused, "She also managed to bring up my lack of 'proper' family as it were."

Brian paled as Tom listed her crimes, "What does she expect me to do, every one of those crimes would have been enough for a death sentence."

"I know, but apparently she thinks because you are a King and she a princess, the laws don't apply to her." Tom said as he lifted the silencing spell from Psylocke, "Isn't that what you said just a few moments ago, Betsy."

"Brian, please. You can't listen to him its all lies, you know me better than that." Betsy pleaded to her brother.

"Shut up Betsy, your just making this worse. Don't you know anything, King Thomas can't lie."

"But, Brian..." Betsy whined.

"No, how could you even conceive of attacking an unborn child's mind. And to attempt to assassinate someone's mate," Brian said as he gestured towards Gambit.

"Its not like he wouldn't be able to find someone else later on."

Brian made a choking motion with his hands, "Elizabeth Braddock, you .. aargh, Didn't you pay any attention to what Merlyn told us about mates." Betsy shrugged, "You only get one, there is no other, not anyone before you find them, and no one after they are gone."

"That just proves hes lying, he was with that Potter boy a few years ago."

"I told you that was a load of garbage." Tom said as Remy gave a choked off laugh into his neck. "Brian you mind wrapping this up, I have other things that require my attention." Tom said as Remy started nibbling on his neck.

Brian swallowed as he looked from Tom back to his sister and pronounced his judgment, "I stand by what I said before, you may do with her as you wish."

Betsy's eyes grew wide and fearful as she heard what Brian said, "Brian you can't mean that,..." Brian just turned away from Betsy and nodded to Tom to go ahead.

Tom considered his options and shot a stunner at Betsy to shut her up, he summoned a vial from his potion's lab and handed it to Oleander. "I trust this will satisfy you as well."

Neville read the vial, and nodded his head. "This will do. May I?" Tom nodded, and allowed Neville to enter the cell. He poured the potion into Betsy's mouth and stroked her neck to make her swallow. The others watched in stunned silence as they saw her breathing become more and more shallow with every breath.

"You killed her?" Kitty exclaimed in shock.

Luna gave a laugh as she said, "Of course not, we wouldn't put Brian through the pain of forever losing his twin. Its like your fairytale of snow white, she will lay forever entombed in sleep until we deem it having been a sufficient amount of time to pay for her crimes."

Brian breathed a sigh of relief, as he said, "Draught of living death, should have known you would have chosen that route Tom."

"Should have," Tom replied, "she'll be sent to you so you can make sure she is being properly taken care of. Next time you hear from me, it'll be for a celebration invite."

"I look forward to it, Blessings on your union." Brian replied with a smile as he clicked off the phone.

Tom handed the phone back to Neville, and place his hands on Remy's hips as he said, "Do you have any idea how hard it was to for me to behave while you did that."

Remy gave a sly smile as he ghosted his hand over Tom's crotch, "That hard?"

Luna interrupted them as she said, "Oleander said you had a job for me?"

"Mm, its the marked file on my desk. If you find anything that concerns you do what you feel is right." Tom replied as he bit back a moan at Remy's teasing touches.

"You two are so cute." She said over her shoulder, passing by Bobby she paused for a moment and said, "Oh, thats pretty mind if I borrow it, thanks bye." As she took the communicator off his uniform and left the dungeons.

Oleander covered a laugh with a cough, effectively breaking the kids out of their stupor as they watched Luna walk away. Bobby stared after her for a minute before coming to his senses and saying, "What, ..did she just..?"

Kurt gave a chuckle as he said, "That is why I keep my communicator in my pocket." Kurt reached into his pocket to emphasize his point only to come up empty, he checked his other pockets to be sure before saying, "I know I had it a moment ago."

The girls checked for their communicators as well, sure that they were safe as Jubilee's was disguised as an earring and Kitty's a necklace only to find both gone. "How, when?"

Remy gave a small smile as he whispered in Tom's ear, "Now that took talent. Never would have figured her for a pickpocket."

Tom smirked for a moment as he replied, "No one ever does. But I believe we came down here for another reason before we were detained."

"_**The bitch can wait a few more minutes."**_ Remy said as he closed the distance between their bodies and gently kissed Tom's lips. That was all the teasing Tom could handle, he took control of the kiss by deepening it as he pressed Remy into the wall. Remy moaned into the kiss as he fisted his hand in Tom's hair as Tom slipped a hand down the back of his pants. Tom deepened the kiss as he heard Remy moan and hold onto him tighter.

Oleander rubbed his face as he turned away from the duo infront of him and faced the kids that were staring at the scene infront of them. "So, where you kids go to school?"

"Huh?" Bobby asked intelligently as he and the others forced themselves to look away and focus on Oleander.

"School, you do attend one don't you?" Neville asked again.

"Yeah, its the Xavier institute for the gifted in New York." Kurt answered, the others nodding with him in agreement.

Neville nodded his head, before asking, "You're a long way from home. So what are you doing out here?"

"We were told Gambit was in trouble and needed help getting away from well ... him." Bobby answered as he gestured towards the couple.

"Yeah, hes in real trouble." Neville said with a smirk as they heard another moan from the couple. "We're still here Parsel."

"We're still clothed." Tom called over his shoulder as he broke the kiss.

"_Mossstly anyway."_ Remy breathed as he leaned against the wall with his shirt undone and half down his arms.

"Parsel, I thought acromantula silk was indestructible." Neville stated as he remembered that the shirts didn't have buttons on them.

"It is." Tom replied as he gave Remy a last kiss before looking at their shirts and smirking. "Well, was."

"You just ripped through an indestructible shirt, Tom." Remy asked as he brought his shirt back onto his shoulders.

Tom nodded as he restrained himself from stopping Remy from covering up his luscious skin once more. "It was in the way."

"_**Mm, want."**_ Remy moaned as he saw Tom lick his lips and touch his chest where the shirt didn't cover. _**"Want now."**_

"**_Done."_** Tom hissed as he brought them up to his bedroom, and banished their clothes.

"Whoa, did he just teleport them somewhere?" Kurt asked, as he looked at the place where Tom and Remy had just been.

Oleander chuckled as he made his out of the dungeons with the teens, "We don't call it that, but essentially yes. Won't be seeing them again for a few hours at least."

"But why?" Kitty asked, making Oleander give her a raised eyebrow.

"You can't be that naive," he said, "think about it." Joining Luna in the study he asked, "Were we ever that innocent?"

"You maybe." Luna smirked as she went back to her job of tracing Remy's emails. She also had a program running that tracked the communicators frequency, and the school's security cams through that. "Thats odd, theres someone piggy backing on this system."

"Can you track it?" Neville asked as he looked at the monitor.

"Already am." Luna stated as she brought up a new monitor, as she focused on the person on camera a warning light pinged on Tom's security system identifying the person as an enemy. "Nathanial Essex, geneticist, aka Mr. Sinister." She followed the man as he walked through his complex and entered another room with crude medical instruments and metal cots. Luna gasped as he stopped at a bed holding a body and correctly identified it as a double of Remy. "He is so dead." She said as she copied all the data from his system and made backups before loading a virus, that would not only destroy his system and all the 'research' he had acquired, it would also overload the circuits causing the building to explode.

"Shouldn't we wait for Tom to do that?" Neville asked as the launch button flashed waiting for confirmation.

Luna nodded her head, "We should, need to make sure he's not holding any prisoners either." Luna minimized the button and looked through past security tapes from both the school, complex, and tapes she had found labeled evidence of betrayal, dated just over a month ago. The students watched as well, as they continued being ignored by the adults. "Ah, look sweety he was courting him, instead just claiming him as his mate."

"Talk about control." Neville agreed as they could see the attraction between the men in the video. "Don't think I could have done that. Was hard enough keeping my hands to myself while courting you, and we don't have a mate bond pulling at us."

"Um.. 'cuse me but.. what do you mean by mate bond?" Jubilee asked, raising her hand.

Luna looked to the kids and smiled, "Lets see how to explain this. Oh, I know.. you've heard of soulmates haven't you?"

"But thats just sentimental junk." Bobby interjected. "Everyone can't have a soulmate or no one would get divorced."

Neville smiled, "You didn't let her finish, she didn't say they were soulmates its just the closest thing to start with. But you are right not everyone has a mate."

"Lets start again, have you heard the myths about dragons and how they can live for centuries and only mate for life."

Kitty nodded, "I vaguely remember something about that from mythology class."

"Mythology." Luna giggled, "Oh you are precious. I know for a fact you saw Tom transform from a dragon. And Remy, his husband is his mate."

"But Gambit's not a dragon." Kurt blurted.

"How would you know?" Neville asked, "Dragons have long intermingled amongst simple humans, the blood might be diluted to mere nothingness, and his ability to change form might be nonexistant now, but as the marks on his shoulder indicate he is very much a dragon mate." He turned to Luna, "ten to one odds the bonding brought that side out."

"Well duh." she stated, "It already gave him a language, and extra strength judging by their reactions to him earlier."

Neville chuckled as he gave Luna a kiss, "the baby better have your brains."

"Think you could handle having another Ravenclaw in the family?" she asked.

"I'll manage." Neville replied, "Just don't gang up on me during debates." Luna laughed and swatted his shoulder and turned back to the others, "Did we answer your question yet?"

The kids nodded vaguely as a monitor showed the footage from the war room right before they had left with the other x-men. "They wanted ..."

"How could they.. they said it was only sedatives in the cartridges."

"We should go back down there and.."

"You'll do nothin'." Remy stated as he walked into the room looking sated and well rested as Tom walked in behind him.

"Told you they would have everything under control when we got back love." Tom said as he nuzzled Remy's neck. "Its not like we were gone that long in real time."

"It was three days." Remy replied, before letting out a moan as Tom moved his hands down his chest, and pressed against him.

Tom a hand lower and whispered, "Yes it was, but now that we're back I keep picturing you bent over my desk as I pound into you."

Remy's eyes glowed for a moment as he eyed the desk, "You're insatiable, Tom."

"What can I say, you're irresistible to me." Tom whispered in his ear, "And I've yet to hear you say stop. Unless it was preceded by don't, of course."

Remy blushed as Tom said that. "We shouldn't be saying these things infront of them."

"Thats why I whispered it love." he replied chuckling, "should I ask them to be sure they didn't hear us?"

Remy pulled Tom into a kiss leaving them both breathless, "Don't you dare. Now behave for a few hours and then we can go to the island."

"I'll try." Tom replied, "You can't ask for more than that."

"Deal." Remy said with a last kiss, and turning back to the others, "You four can go back to the school, you shouldn't have been here in the first place."

"But.." The kids started to argue.

"No buts, The school is practically defenseless right now with only Jean left behind with the younger kids. This is the prime time for someone to attack, especially since Sinister watched y'all leave as indicated by those tapes." Remy explained. "We'll work things out with the others, Hank will be sent back as well once we talk with him. As for Storm and Wolverine they had warning not to come back here."

"How are we getting back then? None of us can fly the jet." Kurt asked curiously.

Tom looked to Oleander and received a nod, "Luna lets go to the other room and see if anymore brownies are left."

"Yum," Luna chuckled as she left the room with Neville.

Remy shook his head as Tom chuckled, once the door to the study closed Tom took out a length of rope and started making a portkey to New York. Jubilee looked from the door to Tom, to Remy and back again. "Alright we're missing something here. Why'd they leave?"

"So they would have plausible _deniability_ about how I'm going to send you home, seeing as its not exactly legal to make a transcontinental portkey by oneself." Tom stated as he started knotting the portkey around the students wrists so they wouldn't let go on accident, "Don't take that off until you've arrived at your destination."

"Listen to him guys, you really don't want to be dropped off somewhere in the middle of the ocean." Remy stated as he swatted Bobby's hand away from the knots. "I'll be in touch. _**Au revoir.**__**" **_With that hissed command the kids were sent on their way. Remy walked over to Tom, while undressing Tom grinned and used his magic to lock the door, silence the room and clear off the desk, as he too undid his clothes. Remy pulled Tom into a deep kiss, and commanded, "Do me and do me now."

"My pleasure." Tom replied as he turned Remy around and slammed home inside of him


End file.
